Everyone in my family realized that my son had a major language delay, but we didn't really worry about it because his father dealt with the same issue as a child. We noticed that his play didn't involve other children, but we just assumed that he was quite independent. We also noticed how particular things set him off into a screaming fit. The sound of a vacuum cleaner was unbearable to him which quickly led into an immediately developed fear of it. (I later learned that this sound, to him, was like running nails down a chalk board.) The father and I had not been around many children, so our experience with our own son was our very first with a young person, therefore we didn't have knowledge of typical developmental patterns. Once my son turned three, his father and I separated, and I decided to look into preschool with the advice of a couple of friends, so I took little C to a preschool to get him admitted. After the observations and interviews, some of the teachers took me into a private room and voiced their concerns, which was that my son may be autistic. I had never considered this to be a possibility and the only information that came to my mind about the disorder was a flashback of the movie Rain Man. From that moment, and on for several days, I cried at the drop of a hat, especially while interacting with my son. I was overcome with fear, uncertainty, and so much sadness for my little boy. I didn't know what my next step should be, was totally clueless about this disorder and what I should do. It seemed as if I got more life stressors than I needed at that point, my separation, learning of my son's condition, an insurance raising fender-bender, financial problems, school, and a job change. I wanted someone to tell me what was going on with my son and especially things that I needed or should do. I took little C to a specialist in that field, looking for some answers and any kind of help. I didn't even know what questions to ask. I left that office with as much information as I walked in with, several bucks less, and a link to a web site that wanted money. I felt helpless and jumped to the conclusion that there was nothing I could do-otherwise that specialist would have told me, right? More