Dr. Victoria Sheppard-Labrecque, MD

My baby had an appt. in person that we waited a long time for today and two hours before the appt it was switched to telehealth. She is 11 months and needs to be seen in person as it is a developmental visit. When I called in I was told very rudely after being accidentally hung up on that if I choose to have an in person appt it cannot be til March of 2025 now like them cancelling was my fault. We are talking about a baby here. This is so unprofessional and clearly just trying to keep the revenue coming in. I just do not understand why they do not leave appts for these unforeseen things coming up and why they then make it sound like I am a bad person for not wanting it over the phone.

My daughter is 4 and autistic. At our follow up appointment with Dr. Sheppard last October, I brought up a concern that our wonderful OT had made notice of & I was completely dismissed outright. She spoke to me about my daughter as if she wasn't there, which I did not appreciate. Especially since my daughter is extremely articulate and communicates using spoken words very well. Overall I left feeling like it was a complete waste of an appointment as my concerns were dismissed & I didn't feel heard. My concerns were not valid just based on her five minute observation of my daughter, whom she didn't even take the time to speak to at all. To top it all off, she had brought in a bag of toys for my daughter to play with & at the end of the appointment she packed them all up without any warning for my daughter, & left which understandably caused my daughter to have a complete meltdown. She could clearly see how distressed my daughter was. She could've just come back for it after we left.

My daughter is 4 years old and autistic and at our follow up appointment with Dr. Sheppard last October, I brought up a concern that our wonderful OT had made notice of and I was completely dismissed based on her just merely looking at my child. She spoke to me about my daughter as if she wasn't sitting directly in front of her which I did not appreciate, especially since my daughter is extremely articulate and communicates using spoken words very well. Overall I left feeling like it was a complete waste of an appointment as my concerns were dismissed and I didn't feel heard at all. I was made to feel like my concerns were not valid just based on her five minute observation of my daughter, whom she didn't even take the time to speak to whatsoever. To top it all off, she had brought in a bag of toys for my daughter to play with and at the end of the appointment she packed them all up without any warning for my daughter, and left which understandably caused my daughter to have a complete meltdown. If anyone is even the least bit knowledgeable about autistic people (ESPECIALLY children), abrupt transitions like that are extremely difficult and she could clearly see how upset my daughter was getting watching her put all the toys she'd taken the time to line up away. I'm not sure why more time couldn't have been given to my daughter to let her put them away on her own to help with the transition. She could've come back in for the bag after we'd left. The nurse at the nurse's station took notice of my daughter's extreme distress and saw me struggling to calm her with our practiced calming strategies, and she was kind enough to come in and redirect her attention to some stickers which thankfully calmed my daughter down. I plan on finding a new developmental pediatrician who is more attune to disabled kiddos and more neuro affirming. I don't care how long of a wait it'll be. I'd rather wait on the world's longest wait list for a more qualified and knowledgeable dev pediatrician than go back to Dr. Sheppard.

My background is in Special Education and Educational Psychology. I also have a child with delays. Dr. Shepherd doesn't know how to conduct any kind of diagnostic testing and is very quick to jump to pre-determined conclusions based off of her own bias beliefs. She was very quick to jump to Autism in adults without a complete medical history. She fails to understand that there are multiple conditions out there that mimic autism but is not autism. One example is TBI. She was trying to state that a relative of my child had autism when this individual experienced a TBI from a car accident. Autism is a disorder that affects a person across all stages of a person's life. TBIs can cause a change in the way a person behaves.She lacks the expertise to work in developmental pediatrics and probably has harmed children whose parents don't know any better on what their child is capable of doing. She is also probably part of the problem in the overdiagnosis of Autism.

We’ve seen A LOT of doctor for our child who has delays and special needs, trying to get some kind of answer as to why he’s going through what he is. We had fabulous developmental specialists in the past who made us feel heard and were very patient and kind and empathetic. This woman was not any of that. She was very harsh, blunt, and overall rude. Made the entire visit uncomfortable. She spoke about my son as if he wasn’t there and couldn’t understand anything. She said he wasn’t likely able to do multiple things despite being in therapies for those things. Made us feel so hopeless and upset in the end. She was the only one who wasn’t booked out so far. Now I know why…

Do NOT schedule with this doctor. I took my 3yr old for a diagnosis with Dr Sheppard. Not only was she rude and unprofessional she spent more time diagnosing me (child's mother) with mental health disorders than observing or diagnosing my child which is her job. Her end of visit summary was written extremely inaccurately, it was the exact opposite of what we discussed and made her summary sound as though I am unfit to raise my child

I would NOT recommend Dr. Sheppard-Labrecque to anyone with a child with special needs. We were assigned to her after an 8 month waiting list period. At our first appointment, we left feeling hopeless for our adopted 13 year old who was only just then receiving an ASD diagnosis. We were promised further testing, which was never ordered. After 4 months, we had a follow up appointment where we were told there was no hope for our 13 year old. She was too old for any therapies...untrue!