Family (It's What You Are) | Port Orthos 2

chapter 42: fawn's daughter

chapter 42: fawn's daughter

~fawn~

       Because Marius and I need to solely focus on Fern during her autism assessment, we thought it would be best to leave Harlow at home with Mary-Anne. Harlow didn't mind. She absolutely loves her auntie so it's no big deal for her to stay at home. It's just like any other day while Marius and I are at work, except Fern won't be at home.

       As we wait in the waiting room for the appointment, Fern sits on my lap and watches some animal videos on my phone. Animal videos always help keep her calm since she loves animals a whole lot.

       Soon enough, the doctor calls us in for Fern's appointment. I tell Fern I have to put my phone away, and she gets a bit upset since the video hasn't finished. I decide to let her at least finish the video, which isn't too long, so I keep her in my arms as Marius and I follow the doctor to the assessment room.

       The doctor, Dr. Asad, gestures for me and Marius to sit down on the couch in the room, so we do. I keep Fern in my lap, checking to see how much time is left on the video. About thirty seconds. 

       "Sorry she's still watching a video," I say. "She doesn't like getting it taken away when it hasn't ended yet. There's only thirty seconds left."

       "It's no problem," Dr. Asad says. "I'll ask you and your husband a few questions in the meantime while we wait for the video to end." She looks at her clipboard. "So when did you first suspect Fern might have autism."

       "Well, at first we noticed that she is a bit behind when it comes to verbal development," Marius says. "But we got her checked out and it wasn't concerning at the time, especially because we've been teaching her to communicate through sign language since she was a deaf aunt. But on her second birthday, we had quite a few family and friends over for her and her twin sister. Fern was just sitting on the ground playing with some toys when she suddenly freaked out. Nothing hurt her and no one was near her."

       "I tried calming her down, but she wouldn't allow me to touch her," I continue. "At all. She was pushing my hand away so it took me a while to get her up to my room to calm her down. She did calm down, but when I tried taking her downstairs, she freaked out again. It was a bit loud, so we figured it got to noisy for her, and we realized it wasn't the first time she freaked out because something was too loud."

       Dr. Asad nods and writes something down. "Are there any other situations?"

       "Yeah, we noticed she has some food aversion too," I say. "She'll have a meltdown if there's something she doesn't like on her plate. She also doesn't like being touched by anyone that isn't us, her sister, or one of my sisters."

        The animal video on my phone has finished at this point, so Fern hands my phone to me. "Uh!" I know the sound she makes means that she wants to watch another video, but I tell her she can watch more later. She whines a bit as I put my phone into my pocket, so Marius opens up Fern's travel bag and takes out one of her favourite teddy bears. He hands it to her, and she grabs it before holding it tightly.

       Dr. Asad continues to ask me and Marius questions about Fern's behaviour and development before wanting Fern to complete some assessments and tests. Fern refuses to move away from me and Marius, so I have to sit beside Fern as she completes some of the tests.

       When the assessment comes to an end, Dr. Asad confirms what Marius and I had suspected; Fern is on the spectrum. I'm glad Marius and I were able to get an assessment because I know how difficult it is for girls to be diagnosed. We found the right specialist that doesn't use a criteria that was built around boys.

       The appointment doesn't quite come to an end yet. Dr. Asad tells us what we can do to help Fern as well as what Fern will most likely need help with when it comes to her development. We're also given a list of resources that can help us out.

       Marius and I thank Dr. Asad before we leave the office to head back home. Once we walk through the front door of our home, Harlow runs over to hug us all before going back to playing with her toys.

       "How did it go?" Mary-Anne asks.

       "It went good," I say. "She was officially diagnosed with autism, and we were given some resources that will help her."

       Mary-Anne smiles. "I'm glad to hear that. Is there anything I can do to help?"

       "We're still going to be looking into what we should do to help her development, so we'll let you know."

       Since it's still late in the morning, both Marius and I still have time to head off to work, so we tell Fern and Harlow we'll be back soon. 

       My work day today is shorter than normal, so I get back home before I usually do. I thank Mary-Anne for babysitting, like always, before she says goodbye to the twins then heading home.

       When Marius gets home, he kisses me before sitting down beside me on the couch. "What do you say to ordering takeout and just lounging around in bed for the rest of the day?" he asks. "And possibly doing a bit more than lounging around in bed?"

        "In your dreams," I say. "Well, to the, as you call it, a bit more than lounging around. Need I remind you we've got twin girls to keep an eye on. We can't just go to our room and have fun."

       Marius leans back into the couch. "I know. What do you say about doing it when they're in bed?"

       "Of course," I say. "So what do you have in mind for takeout?"

       "Hey, Harlow, Fern," Marius says. "What do you want for dinner?"

       "Nug!" Harlow announces, and Fern nods in agreement, smiling at the idea of having chicken nuggets.

       "Chicken nuggets it is," Marius says, taking his phone out of his pocket so he could order some food for dinner.

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it really is a shame that a lot of autism assessments use a criteria that was built around boys, so it's extremely hard for girls to get diagnosed :( i mean, my mom didn't even realize i might have it until i was 22 (i'm 25 now), so since i'm an adult woman, it's very hard to get assessed. meanwhile my nephew was 2 when he was thought to have it and now 4 when he got diagnosed.

anyway, even though i like bringing awareness to real life problems in my writing, i also wanted to show that girls absolutely should be able to be diagnosed just as young as boys.

and also, just a quick reminder that autism is a spectrum so fern's symptoms of autism isn't what everyone's is going to look like. if anything, hers is going to be based off of my own and my nephew's <3