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"This is crazy!" I said. "He has a cow stuffed animal and says 'moo' all the time."
"He might very well know the cow says 'moo.' However when asked, 'What does a cow say?' he doesn't understand.. . . Is he affectionate"?
Time stood still. I wanted to reply "All the time, he hugs me and gives me kisses." But he didn't. I honestly had never noticed. I answered, "Does he show love? He is love. I feel it every day." The therapist looked confused.
There was a waiting list for the UCLA program, and for other programs McCarthy found. As the weeks went by, her marriage grew more strained.
John was starting to get angry at me because he felt ignored. The only fantasies I wanted to imagine were Evan being able to say, "I love you, Mommy." I didn't care if I never had sex again.
While I waited for services, I decided to educate myself on diet. I read that after beginning a gluten and casein-free (wheat- and dairy-free) diet, mothers reported huge changes in their autistic children. I asked Evan's pediatrician. "Another desperate attempt at healing autism," he said. All I knew was if there was hope in anything, I was going to try. I'm pretty grounded, but when you have a sick kid, you would cut off a chicken's head if you thought it would cure him.
She removed wheat and dairy from Evan's diet; he seemed more responsive and was speaking in full sentences.
I received a call from the UCLA program, saying Evan could begin soon. Months had passed since his evaluation, and I was hoping the therapists would see a difference. At the end of his first day, I was approached by a therapist, who said, "Is this evaluation correct? It says here that he couldn't point to his feet or nose, and he did both without a problem today. That's a pretty great improvement." Victory!
JOSH & FERGIE: ROCKED BY SCANDAL
Did he cheat with a stripper?
Married less than a year, the couple denies an Atlanta woman’s claims that she and Josh had a fling
Note that this week’s cover of PEOPLE may differ regionally
