does anyone have children/relatives with any developmental delays?

im sorry the both of you have it so difficult... my son has gone from the lower functioning end of the spectrum upon diagnosis when he was 2, to the high functioning end at now 9 yrs old.. he's so smart.. my son didnt talk until he was 4 1/2 and its been a rocky road, but he does pretty well now.. it must be so difficult for you on the communications end with your son.. i think that is the hardest thing, because no matter what your physical limitations are communication can get you anywhere.. what does your son like to do? how does his communication device work? .. my son too is still at about a 6 yr old mentality but is still only 9.. but its weird because he CAN talk and he is in 4th grade(never held back!) however he doesnt know the context to put information in verbally .. so most of the time.. things he learns at school he just repeats over and over around the house... and COMMERCIALS! constantly walking around saying things like "call empire!" "next day delivery! and you get a free turkey!" and "PBS television for kids!" and "watch the news hour with Jim Leherer" .. its sounds silly but it drives us CRAZY! he's pretty difficult sometimes.. does your son have lots of frustration due to lack of communication? .. feel free to discuss anything with me here!

Bryan is frustrated easy by not being able to communicate. His device is nice, but not always able to have in his possession. It is about 8X10 and has pictures with sayings so that he can push on them and it will say it for him. Kind of limited when you really have something you want to say. It can be programmed very basic to high functioning. It can be used as a cell phone and remote control. Hopefully he will get to use those someday.

wow that must be difficult.. i just sent mine off to school!.. it was apretty good morning for him!.. except for the fact that he kept spelling "danimals" over and over and over! he musta spelled that out loud 40-50 times in the 45 minutes he was downstairs before school..:)