My 16 year old daughter has always suffered with tics, in the past they have been fairly simple, non-obtrusive tics such as blinking or flicking her fingers, but over lockdown they developed into extremely frequent complex movement and verbal tics.
She also has crippling social anxiety.
It was horrible, but she’s coping with it all brilliantly. It’s not easy for her and she does have an awful time with some of the tics, but some of them are funny and together we have a good a laugh at some of the tics she has.
For example, she was trying to make her boyfriend a birthday cake last week, she picked up the first egg and slammed it straight down on the kitchen worktop. She couldn’t for the life of her pour flour into the scales. I had to help her before we ended up with a kitchen covered in egg and flour. It was funny and we both laughed and had a really fun afternoon.
We were out at the weekend with some friends. DD was trying to give me a bottle, but her tics meant she kept snatching it away. I ended up having to catch her hand and take it from her. We were both laughing.
Friend was appalled - how could I possibly laugh at DD? I was out of order, I was being disablist and taking the piss out of a disabled child.
DD and I have a good relationship, some of her tics are funny and we both laugh at them. I take her lead. I’m there for her when she’s having a bad day with her tics, and I’d never laugh if she was upset by one. Some of her tics are bloody awful and quite painful - she’s punched her chest so much it’s purple, she’s pinched her thigh red raw. It is really shit for her but if we can get through it by having a laugh, then I think that’s a good thing.
I doubt myself now. It’s fairly new territory for us all and we’re trying to look on the bright side of it. I just want her to be happy and comfortable and be able to cope with it however she sees fit.