Hi all,
I’m looking for some advice and maybe some reassurance from anyone who’s been through something similar.
My son is 4½ and started with a blinking tic when he was around 2½. It disappeared for about a year, but then he developed other tics including head jerking, sniffing, blinking, eye rolling, grimacing and mouth stretching. One seems to go away and then another appears. If he gets a cold, he often develops a sniffing tic or a mouth movement that can last for a few weeks.
For a while things seemed to be settling down, but over the last couple of weeks (after another cold) he seems to have developed more tics again. The mouth/nose stretching is back, as well as some grimacing and head bobbing. It’s now been nearly two years since the tics first appeared and I’m starting to feel quite worried about it.
I’ve noticed that his blinking tics are most obvious when he’s watching TV, so we’ve reduced screen time significantly. They also tend to happen when he’s in the car or otherwise sitting idle.
Something else I’ve noticed recently is that he sometimes traces shapes, numbers or letters in the air with his finger. Sometimes he’ll tell me he’s writing a number or copying a shape he’s seen, but other times it seems almost automatic and he doesn’t appear particularly aware he’s doing it. I’m not sure whether it’s just something he’s picked up while learning to write at school or whether it could be another tic.
We have seen a neurologist who wasn’t concerned and basically said childhood tics are common and that we should wait and see whether they improve as his nervous system matures. Intellectually I understand that, but I still find myself worrying, especially as it’s been going on for quite a long time now.
I’d be really interested to hear from anyone whose child had multiple tics from a young age. Did they eventually grow out of them? Did they improve with age? Has anyone seen anything similar with the air writing/tracing?
Thank you.