‘Our world came crashing down’

THE speech and language therapist sat in front of my wife and I, careful not to make eye contact. She sifted through papers on her lap, ticking little notes and boxes, silent for a few minutes as she chose her words.

Finally, she lifted her head and spoke, sending our world crashing down. Our two-year-old son, Joe, she said, was presenting symptoms of autism and we should have him diagnosed.

I left the room while she was beginning her second sentence.