THE phone was ringing. Nichola Binks had only taken her son, Thomas, to nursery an hour ago.

“Can you come and pick him up please Mrs Binks? He’s been naughty again.”

As a baby, Nichola’s firstborn Thomas had hit all his milestones, and started to talk at the same age as his friends. It didn’t even cross her mind that anything might be different about him.

But by the time he reached two she started to notice that, while she could hold conversations with his friends, Thomas was still speaking in one or two-word sentences.

At his nursery in Billingham he had also started lashing out at the other children. Nichola would drop him off and within an hour she would have to pick him up again.

“I did every parenting initiative going, Supernanny, all of them,” she said. “I had done every free parenting course at the children’s s centre. But nothing I did made a difference.”

The nursery quickly realised that Thomas might have special needs and he was referred to specialists, who decided he needed to go down the route of an autism diagnosis.

THOMAS is three and a half now. He still wears a nappy. He only uses a few words. He still lashes out, but he has a one-to-one staff member at the nursery who helps keep him calm and settled. The council has agreed to fund the extra support — for now. But the decision is reviewed decision every few months, and there is always the fear that it will be taken away.

This little boy starts school next year. He will have to contend with the noise, the chaos, the other children, the chaotic corridors, the bustling dinner hall - all things which can be terrifying for an autistic child.

He can’t get an Education Health Care Plan - formerly a statement of special needs - to fund a specialist teaching assistant to help him stay calm and learn in mainstream school, he can’t even get a place in a specialist school, because he still hasn’t received his autism diagnosis.

Nichola, who lives in Billingham within Stockton borough, received a letter recently telling her that Thomas wouldn’t be assessed for a diagnosis until 2019. It takes months - sometimes up to a year - to go through the varied appointments on the road to diagnosis. Thomas ' parents won't receive his official diagnosis until he is at least six. Without it being official, there are many services he desperately needs which he just can’t access. Without support, school will be distressing, impossible even, for a child with his needs.

From anecdotal data collected locally, it seems there is a postcode lottery when it comes to autism diagnosis. Waiting times in Stockton are up to three and four years. In neighbouring Middlesbrough, parents report waiting just a few months from referral to the assessment for diagnosis starting.

While NICE guidelines state that referral to a first appointment should be just three months, none of the Clinical Commissioning Groups have to collect data on autism waiting times and there are no official targets.

MPs in the worst-affected areas, swamped with parents asking them to help, have now decided to take action.

During a Parliamentary debate in Westminster Hall this week Stockton South MP Paul Williams and his Stockton North counterpart Alex Cunningham gave passionate speeches about how times needed to come down.

Mr Cunningham said: “Without an education health care plan... children with autism can fall behind, they can miss key developmental milestones, and never reach their full potential. Thomas can’t wait three years to wait for a diagnosis but the system to get him one is so broken, I fear he may have no option. These are the most formative years of his life, and receiving the support he needs has been hindered by that delayed diagnosis.”

Dr Williams worked alongside Stockton autism charity Daisy Chain’s chief executive Stuart Dexter to gather information ahead of his speech, and made a plea for targets to introduced into the system to curb the delays.

On the back of the debate this week, parliamentary under secretary for health Jackie Doyle-Price MP confirmed that waiting times would be measured between April 2018 and April 2019, but no further assurances were given. Mr Cunningham and Dr Williams, and their constituents, are hoping that it will lead to targets being introduced.

Tim e will tell – but time is something these desperate families haven't got.