Parents of those with Tourette's/ADHD?

For about 3 years now my now 6 yr old has tapped on everything in sight. Paper, books, plates, toys, cats, thin air...she taps to relax herself. She does it subconsciously and doesn't realize she's doing it, but if called out on it she can stop it. It has gotten progressively worse in the last year or so. It's interrupting her daily routine at school, her friends are picking up on it. If you question her, she says she "has to do it" and that it "comforts her". Her teacher and the school nurse called me today to bring it to my attention although I was already aware of it. The school nurse also noticed that her left arm twitches, so she was concerned about mini-seizures that can happen while you are fully conscious.

I have wondered about Tourettes before but never imagined my daughter with that label. I've also wondered about mild ADHD but I feel that diagnosis is thrown around way too easily. I have made an appointment with her PCP but wanted to know what specific things I can do before the appointment to help with a diagnosis if there is one. I am not going to mention anything to my daughter but just keep a closer eye on these tics and behavoirs the next couple weeks. I don't want her to feel embarassed or that she is doing something wrong because she isn't. It's just who she is and I would never judge her for it...I just want to be able to help the doctors since I know she won't reproduce an of this at her appointment. The school nurse has offered to talk to her PCP and relay what she has observed so I think that would be useful.

Thanks in advance.

Okay. First off, forget the word 'label'. Don't freak yourself out. I'm a fourteen year old girl who developed tics around the same age as your daughter...and I didn't let it stop me. The best thing you can do is A) not make a big deal out of it. You're absolutely right not to bring attention to it, okay? If she is diagnosed as having something, you will need to explain it to her, but always reassure her she is normal.
Lots of people have tics, she may just be going through a stage and these tics may just go away on their own, no trouble. Or they may hang around and mutate, others may come and they may get worse and she might need medications or even behavioral therapy to help with them in the future. Right now there's no way really to say what will happen. But either way, both of you and your family will get through it. Most kids with tics do just get better on their own over time. It does sound like a tic disorder. Maybe not specifically Tourette's syndrome, but it seems to be a tic. Or it might actually be a compulsion from OCD, sometimes tics and compulsions can be very difficult to distinguish from one another. Many people with tic disorders also have OCD. You're right to take her to the doctor, they're the ones who can correctly diagnose her symptoms and help get her back to her norm. Remember, no matter how bad things get, there is hope and help out there. I've been to the lowest lows but I've also seen the highs. Don't let anything stop you or your family from living a good life.

she may reproduce it for the doctor, you never know. It may be tourettes, it may be OCD. However, I think it may be both. The tics sound tourettes, the tapping sounds OCD.

Mention any strange noises she makes, how long you've seen this, specific examples.

I was talking to a therapist about my son's adhd and possible Autism. She was asking me questions for the autism and one was the repeated actions. Doing something over and over for comfort. So it may be a mild form of autism.

Found this if it helps:
Repeated Behaviors and Routines
Unusual behaviors such as repetitive motions may make social interactions difficult.

Repetitive motions are actions repeated over and over again. They can involve part of the body or the entire body or even an object or toy. For instance, people with ASDs may spend a lot of time repeatedly flapping their arms or rocking from side to side. They might repeatedly turn a light on and off or spin the wheels of a toy car in front of their eyes. These types of activities are known as self-stimulation or 鈥渟timming.鈥?br>
People with ASDs often thrive on routine. A change in the normal pattern of the day鈥攍ike a stop on the way home from school鈥攃an be very upsetting or frustrating to people with ASDs. They may 鈥渓ose control鈥?and have a 鈥渕elt down鈥?or tantrum, especially if they鈥檙e in a strange place.

Also, some people with ASDs develop routines that might seem unusual or unnecessary. For example, a person might try to look in every window he or she walks by in a building or may always want to watch a video in its entirety鈥攆rom the previews at the beginning through the credits at the end. Not being allowed to do these types of routines may cause severe frustration and tantrums.

For more examples of repetitive behaviors and routines related to ASDs, click here.




This also is a good read about adhd tourette's and autism
http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/199...

Check into this link and see if any of the things mentioned sound familiar. This is a very old television show, but has a lot of information on it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRDpcWZUE...

This is likely neither Tourette's nor ADHD. The tapping is a classic manifestation of OCD (an anxiety disorder).

~Dr. B.~

Sounds like it is tourettes. Not a bad thing...meds can help.....most kids grow out of it.

It could be something to do with autism or OCD!

I have a friend who has a disorder called myoclonus. What it is is when she was born she wasn't breathing for the first couple minutes. Once she started breathing she had minor brain damage. The only probelm she ever has is she is a little twitchy. It does not affect her daily life and it's hardly noticable. Her case was rare however, as most people with myoclonus tend to get it after being deprived of oxygen later in their life (drowning, shock, etc). Tourettes and ADHD may be possible reasons your daughter is twitching, but there are many other possibilities too, most of which are fairly harmless. Personally I don't think tapping on things is necessarily a bad thing. I tend to tap my foot (and shake my leg) when bored. She may just not be getting stimulated in class. Or perhaps she may just like the sounds different objects make and it becomes a sort of day-time white noise for her (I can't sleep without my fan on every night, despite the cold. I need that noise). Just don't be too riled up until you hear what the doctor has to say. It may be nothing at all.

this has been happening to my cousin and she is six too (in picture). When she was little, she had sisures very often. What she likes to do now is shake her head for no reason she says "it makes me feel better and that it's somthing i have do." Seeing her do it is quite sad, but it has been getting better. In the earlyer stages, she always had to tap on somthing, like when she was 5, but has grew out of that stage. Her parents have taken her to the doctor, and he said that she had tourette's, although, no one wanted to beleive it.