Lemon´s mom Blog
Hello and welcome to my Blog.
Here i will write about little Lemon´s life and about autism. For more understanding and acceptance.
Nice that you are here!
I'm often asked how I felt when Lemon changed and was diagnosed with autism.
Today I will write about it for the first time.
When the first signs appeared, the first thought that occurred to me and the doctor was that Lemon might be highly sensitive. Because of a cold she had fluid in her ear canal for a long time and that also explained why she was regressing in speech.
But due to the fact that there were also major changes in other areas of life (such as eating, sleeping, playing, senses, personality...), I had the suspicion relatively quickly that Lemon could be autistic.
At that moment, of course, I did exactly what you shouldn't do. I googled "signs of autism in young children".
It is very difficult to describe how I felt when, just reading this, I realized that my daughter is indeed autist.
For a moment it felt like the world stood still. And it came with the wish that the world wouldn't keep turning. But she did.
I knew not much about autism at that moment. But Google could help me there too. I read words like : often intellectually retarded, may never be able to speak, trapped in their own world, severe impairment in social behavior, often accompanied by epilepsy and so on...
I just sat there and felt tears running down my cheeks. Not me, no my little girl is going through hell right now. How must it feel for her to change like that? Losing speech, unlearning motor skills and then these fears, the light and the noise.
My job as a mother is to protect my child and her little soul. But I couldn't protect her from what she is going through right now. I cried until no more tears came, went into bed with her, looked at my little girl and took her little hand in mine.
Don't be afraid my little lemon, Mommy is here. We will get through this hard time and I will do everything to make you happy again.
You are perfect just the way you are and I will love you forever
How it all started:
Our path to diagnosis
Lemon is four years old and has a form of autism that doesn't show up until one to two years old.
Until she was about one year and a half old, there were no signs of autism. On the contrary, she developed in line with her age and showed no behavioral problems. Many People would say she was a totally normal kid.
At about one year and a half, the first changes gradually occurred. She unlearned words she had learned. After a few weeks, she could only make vowel sounds.
Lemon became very nocturnal, jumping around in bed a lot, watching the lantern light dance merrily through her little fingers. She stopped pointing at things and her eating habits changed to the point that she only ate six different foods.
Lemon stopped responding when spoken to and stopped making eye contact. Their gaming behavior has changed significantly. At first she seemed very dreamy and in her own world. Shadow and light suddenly fascinated her very much. In addition, there were strong fears and we had to stop baby gymnastics and other mom and child courses because Lemon screamed in panic. A lot of things were just too bright and too loud.
Her senses suddenly seemed quickly overwhelmed. Soundproof headphones and sunglasses were constant companions.
It quickly became clear to us that something was wrong and at the first sign I turned to the pediatrician. This was followed by referral to specialists and many examinations and tests followed.
At the age of two and half years, little Lemon got the confirmed diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder and expressive language disorder
Now she is four years old and so much has changed again. If you want to know more about Lemon's World and autism, please visit me again, here on my blog.