To ask you for your experience of phonic tics?

[Cognitivedisonance]

My youngest Has recently developed a very regular and noticeable phonic tic. He is ND and this is a very new thing, he’s never had anything like this before. For context, he’s recently had a bit of a development leap, he’s suddenly started speaking much better, become conversational, become more independent in his personal care, less meltdowns, not using ear defenders in public now, more reasonable in terms of accepting things he dislikes/ struggles with. He’s expanded the types of clothing he’ll wear and has just ‘clicked’ with phonics and literacy whereas before he was years behind despite being a total geek at maths. So I feel he’s really pushing himself to meet expectations, really trying to fit in at school etc. so I think my mind is going to the idea that these tics have developed because he’s working so hard at school and socially, and I’m a bit worried they are an indication that he’s stressed and anxious and just asking if I should be concerned or let it be and see if they fade away? I had pretty severe tics at one point in childhood and a few subtle ones have lingered and I do think they were/ are triggered by stress when I look back at life.
any thoughts?

My son has had tics on and off (throat clearing at one point, shoulder shrugging at another, a facial squint, things like that). It always comes and goes but they do seem more prevalent when he is busy, tired or stressed or otherwise having a touch time.

Wrong thread

@Embarrassednamechangeadoddle
thank you . so do ya reckon I should just ignore it for now and see if it passes? I’ve also noticed his clumsiness has increased a bit ( he’s always clumsy) but he’s been a bit worse lately and it all started when he got a new teacher at school. She’s lovely but firm, a bit no-nonsense and pushes him a bit, but I wonder if he’s feeling burnt out. I dont know whether to mention it to the senco at school to suggest keeping an eye on him for other signs of stress or if it’ll make me look neurotic and just trust them that they know what they’re doing? To be fair, he’s been so much more confident in many ways but more anxious in others. His music teacher has been away on tour too, which has broken his routine a bit and might be part of it. I do worry about him a lot, maybe infantilise him a bit, I can’t help it.

I’m sure when I looked in to it with my son nothing would be diagnosed until the TICs had be present for quite some time, and they didn’t seem to bother him too much so I didn’t go to the GP about it. However I did talk to the school who helped keep an eye on it and spoke to them about him feeling anxious. I know they view him as an easy chilled kid so I needed to help them understand that under that facade is an anxious little mind.
i don’t think taking to school would do any harm, it might mean they become more aware of the needs that are under rhe surface and not so obvious. My son struggled with a no nonsense teacher too. He was never in trouble but any whole class punishment and the fear of doing something wrong with this teacher was so high.

I also worry about babying my son sometimes, so I tend to try and work with him to come up with ideas to manage his worries. Try to build resilience with him and help him develop strategies to manage anxieties rather than solve his problems for him.

@Embarrassednamechangeadoddle
thank you so much for this. I’m going to follow your approach. As you say, even if it helps them to realise that he struggles more than he lets on it could be beneficial. Really appreciate your help.

How old is DS - I'm guessing mid primary?

My cousin's DS (13) has quite severe tics and they are always worse when he's tired or stressed. On advice, the parents have directed the SENCO (he has ADHD) to instruct the teachers to affect not to notice; a lot of them thought he was putting it on and he was getting into trouble for it.