My son has a twitch and it’s getting bad

[Brokenlady16]

My son has always had a tick, most common one being a head banging motion, he has had various ones over the years but this one is getting prominent. He has just started high school and they have referred him for counselling. Has anyone else experienced this??

It really depends on what the tics are connected to.
Is he stressed? Does he exhibit any non-neurotypical traits? Is it a trauma response?
Have you ever explored this?

We think it’s anxiety related, he finds it hard to feel accepted and starting a new school with new students had probably made it worse to be honest.

Hi OP, in case it helps on Chat topic on 14th Nov someone did a 'Does anyone have experience of a child with tics? thread

Tics are a part of Tourette’s, they are also common with adhd. Does he have any other traits? My son has adhd and he did have some tics. They seem to come and go. Worth asking for a referral for an assessment maybe? Sounds like he is under pressure from the new school.

My nephew has ticks and he has dyspraxia.

He doesn’t have adhd, but has had tics all his life. He had been referred for counselling 😔

We have seen a couple of new cases of this in school since returning from summer lockdown. I do think it may be on the increase as all anxiety symptoms seem to be.

I’m sorry your dc is having a tough time.

@Brokenlady16, apologies I didn’t really mean an Adhd assessment, I mental a neurodevelopmental assessment to understand what is causing the tic ing. That may enable you to treat it better. Counselling seems rather vague.!

*I meant

My 15 yo has had tics at various times - usually at times of stress such as changing school or exams. When it first happened age 7 we took him to the GP whose advice was to not made a big deal of it. She said that the child is often unaware they do it and, if you highlight it, they often get worse.

Every time it happens, we ignore and it disappears by itself in a couple of months.

With 13 year old dc as PinotPony said

Every time it happens, we ignore and it disappears by itself in a couple of months.

This was our GP advice also.

However it can go on for weeks, sometimes verbal sometimes physical.

Worse in evenings (tiredness presumably)

Each bout of tics seemingly starts with a cold/bug

It’s hard to do nothing though so we tend to try ‘invisible’ things that may have helped previously

• avoid speaking about it - that does NOT help
• improving diet range of nutrients feels like a good idea each time though no real evidence it helps (no harm to try though)
• making additional time to just talk/read and play board games / walk together and removing unnecessary rushing around / expectations (possibly helps - school is a career equivalent these days - expectations are many and huge)
• encouraging more sleep/building in a few lifts to school to allow more sleep (possibly helps - as still a sleep resister)
• ensuring clothes are soft no labels discomfort no changes of washing powder

• time and more time waiting it out

Having said that we are waiting on a paediatric appointment as the last bout seemed never ending and significant - though school and friends haven’t commented - at this point symptoms down to 10 % of what they were 8 weeks ago

DC has been waiting for counselling also but don’t think this will happen anytime soon.

My son was the same as the previous 2 posters. They came on around age 7- then, usually at the start of each new school year and by Christmas they had gone. He’s 15 now and hasn’t had any for a few years. Again, we made sure he had lots of sleep and didn’t mention them. I’ve had friends also with similar tics that have gone on their own x

We don’t mention them, he has had them all his life. And don’t seem to be improving.