DS1 Obsessive Behaviour . . . help please

[vitapulchra]

Whilst my DS1 (just 7, in Y2) is very bright, very sensitive and exceptionally good at maths, I'm not sure his behaviour is related. Problem is he goes through phases of nearly obsessive physical tics. Age 3 it was wincing (constantly), that passed then it was scratching (claimed he itched all over his body, constantly), now it's aggressive self-kissing (that is, instead of having his mum kiss a hurt better, he's taken to kissing himself, everywhere, all the time.) And yes, I know he's 7. His teacher has just informed me that it's becoming an issue within the classroom--other kids are starting to think he's really weird and the "tics" interfere with proper, regular behaviour. He has an upcoming appt with our GP but I don't hold much hope for that one. I've previously asked if he can be assessed by an educational psychologist (only should the school consider it necessary to formulate a programme to meet his academic needs) but here in the very small isolated area where I live this is impossible. (I was told flatly no, they only assess children who have learning difficulties.) We've also considered autism but socially he's very adept (apart from this!), keen sense of humour, good friends (even a Y2 girlfriend!). Perhaps he's still somewhere on the spectrum? Labels aside, what on earth do I do next?

Ds1 had loads of tics at that age, I really thought it would go on forever, one of the worse ones was constantly rubbing his chin on his shoulder so much so it was red raw and didn't heal for months.
He's 14 now and hardly tics, and If he does, once I point it out he can usually control it.
Ds1 also very sensitive, bright, good at maths btw he struggled a bit with bullying in juniors but hasn't had any problems at secondary.
Just wanted to give you some reassurance, I have known a few kids that seem to be much worse with their tics around year 2 age.

Thanks LargeGlass it is reassuring. Did you just ignore the tics when he was younger? Or did you try to help him control himself? His teacher has asked me to address it (if possible, she's very sympathetic) and I just don't know whether I should do anything or wait for him to outgrow it.

Tried everything when he was younger, at first we ignored, then nagged him every time he did it, some of them used to drive me to distraction!
But I think by far the best approach was talking to him about them, also he seamed better if he could replace one tic with another rather than trying to stop all together, so tried to find tics that were less annoying to others.
It's weird it was such a huge issue at the time, but hardly ever think about it now.
I know at that age it used to help if he had something to fiddle with, almost like to release the built up energy, I remember him liking scoobies, he also used to play coins or rubbers. Sounds very odd writing it down, :) he still plays with coins constantly but now he does magic tricks and slight of hand with them. So comes across less strange.