Could my son have tourettes?

[captaintenderheart]

Bit concerned about my eldest DS nearly 8. He pulls a variety of faces and has started to try to disguise them, we have spoken about the faces, I have tried variety of approaches (telling him to stop; ignoring them altogether; talking about it to him in casual manner) they went away for a while and are back with some new ones. Could he have tourettes? Been going on off and on for couple years now.
Any advice or tips on how to deal with this or similar experiences would love to hear from you, thanks.

Hey, I am an adult with TS and would be happy to chat.
First off lots of children get tics, it isn't always tourettes.
For tourettes to be diagnosed you have to have 2 or more motor (physical) tics and at least one vocal tic ( can be anything that makes a noise, throat clearing, whistling etc).
A facial grimace is a common first tic as are eye blinking and sniffing.
The tourettes action web page is very useful and the tourettes community is very helpful and friendly.
Whether they transient childhood tics or turn out to be full blown tourettes, lots of support is available.
Please don't tell him off for his tics - I had a childhood of that and it's horrible, though understandable why if no diagnosis!
Just educate everyone in his life especially teachers that he is not to be punished for this - the tourettes action website have lots of info sheets for teachers. The forums interesting too. If you keep a diary that will help if you see a gp and ask for referral if you think they are affecting his life. And discretely videoing him to as evidence. Just make sure he isn't worried about them and help him with his self confidence.
If you want to message me at all ill answer any questions you have.