Alexis Wilson suddenly awoke one night three years ago to her four-year-old son Emmett in her room, screaming, scratching his face and hitting his head against the wall. He did not speak much aside from one sentence, the last words he would say before plunging into a deep — and so far irreversible — regression: “Mommy will help me.” Now seven years old, Emmett has fewer developmental skills than he did when he was two and his mom is still searching for help.

Wilson has explored nearly every possible path, spending upwards of $300,000, seeing close to 100 doctors, therapists and other professionals, and taking on the role of full-time Emmett advocate. She even found herself searching “regression” on TikTok in the hopes of connecting with another family who has a similar experience. Emmett has been diagnosed with autism, but it is an unusual presentation.

“You don’t get autism overnight,” as one nurse told Wilson. Emmett, who lives with his family in Thornhill, Ont., is now one of the more than 60,000 children in the province seeking services through the Ontario Autism Program.

As of the end of 2023, there were about 14,000 children with access to core therapy through the program, but so many more are waiting along with Emmett. Families of those children are vocal about their concerns with the program. They say it is slow — Emmett has been on the wait-list for more than 2 1/2 years — that it is not truly needs based, that a lack of service providers means .