I shared with my teacher friend your concerns about DS8 and the first question she asked me was if he was on meds. I said no, and she also said meds can start tics.
However she was very encouraging concerning the controlling of tics. I love this woman because she always finds ways to answer my questions in ways I understand and that allows me to help other people.
She explained tics this way. They occur and are like sneezes. If you know the symptoms then you know they are coming. Trying to hold a sneeze in is hard and releasing them makes you feel good. She says DS8 knows then the tics will happen but hasn't identify the before feelings yet. She said it may be his face starts to feel hot or it begins to itch ever so slightly. Once DS8 can identify the symptoms and explain them to you, with therapy there are ways to control them. That's what she is so good at with her students.
She says it does take time, but once taught the tics can diminish or stop. She also said the tics develop when there is internal emotional struggle within the person. She suggested you observe DS8 while he is doing computer work and is concentrating and focused on what he is doing. She said it is a good sign if his tics become noticeably less during this time.
She also wanted me to tell you that tics are a way for a person to release internal stree like that sneeze and is why they occur when he is in public.
My friend is so wonderful with students like yours ds. We special ed teachers don't see kids with labels. We see kids who have the ability to succeed, the "labels" just help us to understand what strategies work when teaching them.
Many many of our kids go on to have a very fulfilling life. My friend just told me one of the kids we shared teaching just contact her to say hi. He is now married with a son and is working in the TX oil fields driving a truck. He is making great money and to be honest has far exceeded our expectations. I have many stories about my kids being successful. One of my asperger girls would get lost in the downstairs part of our school. She couldn't figure her way up the stairs. Today she has a full time job and this spring she will graduate college as a special ed teacher. It took her seven years to get through her schooling , starting with community college, but in the end she is going to have the job she's always dreamed of. Doesn't get any better than that... and oh by the way in 7th grade she had a very "tic" sounding voice, but she learned to over come that as well
