Arie's tics

[janradder]

Most of the the time they're either non-existent or subtle enough that you wouldn't even notice them if you didn't know what they were -- eye-blinking, throat-clearing, and shoulder-shrugging. Over the past two days, though, one of Arie's old tics has popped up again. It's the one he did when he was three and we first realized there was something wrong with him. His eyes get big and kind of roll back in his head, and he frowns and grimaces with his mouth so that his tongue sticks out. He's also started shaking his head back and forth when he does it.

Since we first saw that tic it's decreased in frequency so that we only see it every now and then when he's really tired and never for very long. Over the past few days, though, he's been doing it every few minutes. It's impossible not to notice (last night at dinner, he had to stop eating every few bites because he couldn't put his food in his mouth and chew while the tic was going on). All I can think about when I see it is what other people see and how this will affect his school life as he gets older. I hate seeing that tic. I wish there was something I could do to stop it but there isn't and I just want to reach out and give him a big hug to let him know how much I love him but I can't do that either because he has sensitivity issues and doesn't like to be touched.

On the plus side, haddayr went into Arie's class last month and talked to them about his Tourette's and it seems to have helped.

Yesterday, Arie said to me, "The kids at school are asking me now if things I do are tics. I tell them, 'Sometimes yes, and sometimes no.' Like when I make a silly face, that's on purpose."

"Are you glad that you and Mommy talked to your class about Tourette's," I asked him.

"Yes," he said, and smiled.

Comments

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Yes, that one is very weird-looking. But the kids really aren't making fun of him. It's gonna be okay.

[geniusofevil.livejournal.com]

Her post on that was great. It really shows how harmful it is to 'protect' our kids by not talking to them about stuff they encounter daily. From what it sounds like, it showed the kids in his class that it was okay to notice/be curious, it gave them a name for something unusual and gave everyone a bit of room instead of making it the tense-ignore-it kind of lable.

I wish more people would do this.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I'm certainly glad we did it for Arie. I think it's definitely helped him.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

As you know, I have a hard time not projecting my own school experiences onto Arie. I just have to remind myself that he's really not at all like I was.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Arie is much, much more like me.

Which is why he's so unpleasant and drives you crazy, of course. :-P

More importantly, the kids are different and the school is different.