“The developmental pediatrician hardly spoke to me; he spent most of the appointment staring at his laptop. He said my son had autistic tendencies and gave me contact information for local agencies. I spent five months holding onto the hope that he did not actually have autism, yet lying awake at night crying because deep down I knew this was not a “tendency” and it was not going away. Finally, at my son’s three-year physical, the pediatrician instructed me to call the specialist back, and that’s when I learned he had indeed diagnosed him with autism. I felt so awful I hadn’t called sooner; I started setting up speech and behaviour therapies immediately.”