Anthony Macris and his wife were late starters as parents, but when their son Alex was born they were, for an all too brief period, the happiest of families. Until autism descended, in a swift and brutal wave, sweeping away the child they knew and leaving them to watch helplessly as his mind disintegrated. Their vibrant, healthy boy, who up to the age of eighteen months had appeared perfectly normal, was struck mute and barely recognised his own mother and father.