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Elizabeth Gibot’s son James was normally a quiet and well-behaved toddler. But she noticed he began to cry more and appeared anxious whenever she wasn’t around. He also stopped using the sign language she taught him as a baby. She knew something was wrong, so she reached out to their pediatrician, but the doctor couldn’t provide any help or answers.

“He regressed from everything that I had taught him,” she said. “I guess it was very hard for other people to notice because nobody knows your child more than you.”

At the time, Gibot had just left her partner, who she said was physically, verbally, emotionally and financially abusive. She tried to shield James wh

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