I have a four-year-old son that has been diagnosed with PDD-NOS. My son was delayed in his development from the beginning. He had many gross and fine motor delays that we thought were attributable to the fact that he was a big baby. He had a large head circumference, which we thought to be the reason why he didn't hold his head up on his own until he was almost 6 months old. When he wasn't walking by 15 months, our pediatrician decided we should sign up for Early Intervention.
He began walking at 19 months, but still had many delays, including a regression in his speech. At 2 years and 2 months, our Childhood Development Specialist through Early Intervention had us take the Childhoood Autism Rating Scale (CARS) test. My son rated as mild to moderate on this scale. We went on to have him formally diagnosed at the State of Utah Child Development Clinic. We were shaken, but I immediately began searching the internet for anything I could find out about how to help my son. I found information on ABA and RDI interventions, as well as information on implementing a gluten-free and casein-free diet. This diet peaked my interest, since my son has always been allergic to milk from birth. We even had a hard time finding formula that he could tolerate. We began slowly taking out all the casein and then gluten from his diet. We began to see remarkable changes. He hadn't slept through the night since his birth. He was now almost 3 years old. As soon as I took all the dairy out of his diet, he began sleeping through the night. We then started him in Speech Therapy and he began to gain more and more language. We are still working to get him caught up with his peers, but he has made amazing gains in the 9 months he has received this therapy.
Through Early Intervention he had received some ABA therapy and then he began receiving Special Education Services through Granite School District. He has made progress through their program, but not as much as I know he is capable of, since he doesn't receive one-on-one help through the school district. Our goals at this point are to make sure he is in a program that is appropriate for his needs, whether this is through a school district program, in-home therapy, or a potential Charter School. The help is out there, but it does take some effort to find out what is available, and to sort through what will be effective for your child, versus a cookie-cutter version of education that doesn't necessarily meet your child's needs.