{"id":3278,"date":"2013-12-17T07:30:30","date_gmt":"2013-12-17T12:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/tsparents\/?p=3278"},"modified":"2013-12-17T07:30:30","modified_gmt":"2013-12-17T12:30:30","slug":"i-spy-new-science-on-tic-relief","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/njcts.org\/tsparents\/i-spy-new-science-on-tic-relief\/","title":{"rendered":"I spy new science on tic relief"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"spies\"<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone in my group is kind of freaking out about tics, including me. Not sure if it’s Christmas or the weather or just stress from school, but they are in high gear.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a background, most of us have kids between the ages of 8 and 12 — the majority being boys.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of us moms are trying super hard to “accept” this condition and all that goes with it — the ADD or the OCD, the “spectrum” like symptoms ranging from obsessions over video games to underlying defiance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lest any of you are new to the TS scene, let me reassure you that NONE of the kids in my private group are seeing shrinks for outrageous behavior that is often associated with Tourettes in the media. In fact, the more parents of neurotypical kids I chat with the more I see that talking back, wilfulness, and general lazy butt behavior is developmental for all kids.<\/span><\/p>\n

The best thing I’ve discovered is to not freak out about any “issues” being TS-related, but simply treat them the way I would treat my own daughter’s turd like the-world-revolves around me attitude at times. This entails a “It’s my home\/my rules” full frontal attack.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t feel bad about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don’t spend give Tourettes a free pass for bad manners, selfishness and poor attitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

For the most part, I’m realizing that tics are here to stay and the best thing I can do as a parent of my beautiful son is to encourage his gifts, not obsess about his “flaws” that — let’s get real — are not really flaws.<\/span><\/p>\n

It’s his body. Just as someone of a kid in a wheel chair likely feels pangs of sadness each Christmas when the child’s friends go ice-skating and Mama must find alternative sources of entertainment, I mostly embrace the truth that Stink is not someone else.<\/span><\/p>\n

He is Stink. The mom of the wheelchair girl is not going to scream at her “Why can’t you walk?” any more than I’m allowed to scream “Why can’t you STOP rolling your eyes back and forth?” (Oh, man, the eye rolls this week – OUT OF CONTROL.)<\/span><\/p>\n

That said, and here’s the real rub… there’s a difference between a mom accepting that her child has certain disabilities and special needs (Ugggg… the words “special needs” also drives me crazy as don’t we all have special needs?)\u00a0and allowing the kid to falter due to poor choices.<\/span><\/p>\n

Example for the kid in the wheel chair — so they can’t go ice-skating, but it doesn’t mean they get to sit all day long in front of a computer, gain twenty pounds, and not do physical therapy for upper body strength. It doesn’t mean Mom might not keep an ear out for alternative ways to get that kid walking if the “cure” is being developed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Example for my kid with the HUGE increase in tics — accepting mild tics is different from accepting mid to high range tics based on poor choices:<\/span><\/p>\n