16 year old developed tic. School offered medical leave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry. This sounds difficult all around.

Look into PANS/PANDAS if you haven’t. Can develop after strep infection.

I second this. In addition, other types of infections can trigger a sudden onset of tics in a child. These include Borrelia burgdorferi (the bacteria causing Lyme disease), mycoplasma pneumoniae, and herpes simplex virus.

I am sure you have a doctor that is looking into various reasons, but some doctors overlook the PANS/PANDAS, lyme, etc possibility. That is why I wanted to make a note.

Regarding school issue: Get your kid into a school that is willing to support your child. If and when the issue resolves at the new supportive school, apply back to your previous school if that is what you prefer. Your current school should support you well in applications, and very likely when you want to come back.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, schools are more understanding when you are addressing the problem and trying to fix it. Are you trying to address the tic or are you ignoring it?

Idiotic question. Why would a private school parent spending 60K/year ignore the health problem of their child?

You seem like you are new here. As a veteran of the special needs board, plenty of parents 'ignore health problems' or think they know better than a doctor or BTDT parents. It is a valid question and I think it is the more important question than can my kid be forced into medical leave.

Sudden tics aren't a straightforward medical problem. OP should be looking into PANDAs and I literally do not want to hear one fing word from the poster who posts on every PANDAs thread about how it is fake. Then I have link to Harvard, Stanford and JHU's websites discussing PANDAs.

Parents ignore medical issues ALL THE TIME, even at expensive private schools. In fact, sometimes I think it is worse because the parents think “my special kid can’t have an issue” or “it doesn’t matter - we pay enough that the school can just deal with it.”

I agree with the previous poster. Your response and how you are already working with the school should be very telling.

Yep. So many undiagnosed autistic kids at my DD’s private school. Everyone has an ADHD diagnosis though because who wouldn’t want extended time for testing.

[Anonymous]

My DC developed verbal and nonverbal tics in lower elementary school. The verbal was throat clearing/coughing, and it was before covid so there wasn't too much concern re the coughing by others at that time. The nonverbal involved eye rolling and shoulder shrugging so on the spectrum of disruption to others it was low.

I took DC to the dr where he diagnosed DC with Tourettes by a Tourettes expert. We could not find a trigger to the onset of the tics (not low sleep, or stressful situations or having to speak in front of others). The tics did not interfere with DC's activities and daily life and DC didn't realize they were performing them. Our dr advised that DC did not qualify to medication and should grow out of them (which DC eventually 99% did, still has the eye rolling every now and then).

At school we informed them of the diagnosis and they were very receptive to working with us. The main issue became teachers thinking DC was being disrespectful because of the eye rolling. As long as the teachers felt that DC wasn't being overly disruptive, they all agreed not to mention them IRL (as in no saying "why are you doing that?", no drawing attention to them). We agreed as parents to any further conferences if the school felt that our plan wasn't working. And that was the end of it. We received no further push back from the school, admin or other parents. When other kids asked DC why they were performing tics, DC just replied "I don't know" and that was it.

I am not sure what kind of tics OP's child has displayed but they sound disruptive to the other students and admin. I am so sorry this is happening. I would immediately be testing for all of the suggested issues pointed out by other posters (PANDAS, Lyme, etc.). You need a diagnosis and to be proactive with your school. Our private is one well discussed on DCUM and we were pleasantly surprised with the willingness to work with us. Our DC is now in high school.

[Anonymous]

OP, one of the reasons that private schools are lovely learning spaces because they can say no to students who are distracting. Now that your daughter is a distraction, they are saying not now. If you can’t get a handle on the tic, they will counsel your child out. No parent is going to pay thousands a year for a distracting environment. If private schools don’t counsel out students who are distracting, the families with easy, smart, well-behaved students will take their money elsewhere.

Offer to home school her in the fall if you can’t get the tic under control.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Private schools can do whatever they want, especially in MD

This is not the case. Under Title III of the ADA, it is illegal for private schools to discriminate based on disability.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry. This sounds difficult all around.

Look into PANS/PANDAS if you haven’t. Can develop after strep infection.

Yes, this or medication side effects and food sensitivities. Someone must have reported my earlier post, but my DD is in private school and no longer has tics after discontinuing the offending medications and foods.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m sorry. This sounds difficult all around.

Look into PANS/PANDAS if you haven’t. Can develop after strep infection.

Yes, this or medication side effects and food sensitivities. Someone must have reported my earlier post, but my DD is in private school and no longer has tics after discontinuing the offending medications and foods.

Interesting that people report such posts so that others cannot see them. There are some seriously ill people!

[Anonymous]

What age is your child? Did they cause issues/mentally fragile and time consuming prior to the tics? Can they handle the academics?
I don’t say this to be mean or cruel. My dd at one of the top all girls schools in the DMV had what seemed like a cluster of really terrible concussions caused by very minor injuries among students who couldn’t handle the academics and this was their “out” as they didn’t have to do work or be graded for months, ongoing, at a time as there was no cure for concussions. This was like 10yrs ago. Thru just didn’t get grades for like an entire semester.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That sucks but I also get it. If I was paying that much for school, I wouldn't want my kid being disrupted by yours.

DP: it's no more disruptive than a kid with a chronic cough a cough or allergies.

This simply isnt true. Humans are conditioned to certain “white noises” among bodily function sounds. A cough or constant sniffling IS annoying but it doesnt stick out as audibly or interrupt as an unusual sound or movement would. Eventually, yes, but it would take years and years. I worked on a behavioral health floor for many years and I can ignore 85 percent of tics however the general public does not have that kind of “white noises” resistance, especially young students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Looking for advice, all new to us.

16 yr old developed a tic. Makes a noise about every 30 seconds.

School approached us. Offered medial leave. We pressed them on why she couldn’t be in school. They said they did not want her in school as it was disruptive.

Note it’s a private school. If public I know they can’t keep child out. But private I don’t know. Do we have any legal leg to stand on here?

Nope.

[Anonymous]

My daughter has tics that have changed over the years. For a while she was making sounds that were similar to a loud sigh and another one that sounded like a short soft hum. Yes in a quiet classroom you would hear this. Her school never mentioned it to us. She will graduate this year from a top Catholic HS after many years of Catholic education.

OP, maybe you should look into Catholic schools, which tend to have more empathy than secular ones.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience, schools are more understanding when you are addressing the problem and trying to fix it. Are you trying to address the tic or are you ignoring it?

Idiotic question. Why would a private school parent spending 60K/year ignore the health problem of their child?

You seem like you are new here. As a veteran of the special needs board, plenty of parents 'ignore health problems' or think they know better than a doctor or BTDT parents. It is a valid question and I think it is the more important question than can my kid be forced into medical leave.

Sudden tics aren't a straightforward medical problem. OP should be looking into PANDAs and I literally do not want to hear one fing word from the poster who posts on every PANDAs thread about how it is fake. Then I have link to Harvard, Stanford and JHU's websites discussing PANDAs.

Parents ignore medical issues ALL THE TIME, even at expensive private schools. In fact, sometimes I think it is worse because the parents think “my special kid can’t have an issue” or “it doesn’t matter - we pay enough that the school can just deal with it.”

I agree with the previous poster. Your response and how you are already working with the school should be very telling.

Both of you are full of BS. I've been on this board for 25 years and I was a private school parent for more than a decade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter has tics that have changed over the years. For a while she was making sounds that were similar to a loud sigh and another one that sounded like a short soft hum. Yes in a quiet classroom you would hear this. Her school never mentioned it to us. She will graduate this year from a top Catholic HS after many years of Catholic education.

OP, maybe you should look into Catholic schools, which tend to have more empathy than secular ones.

I am the PP here. I just wanted to add that after reading all the heartless responses here I am shocked and glad my daughter does not attend the same school as your children. BTW, my daughter didn't have a diagnosis for her tics. They were a side effect from her ADHD medication and the tics came and went. But not to worry, your snowflakes won't be disturbed because DD is graduating this year and heading to a T20.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, one of the reasons that private schools are lovely learning spaces because they can say no to students who are distracting. Now that your daughter is a distraction, they are saying not now. If you can’t get a handle on the tic, they will counsel your child out. No parent is going to pay thousands a year for a distracting environment. If private schools don’t counsel out students who are distracting, the families with easy, smart, well-behaved students will take their money elsewhere.

Offer to home school her in the fall if you can’t get the tic under control.

Let me guess what school your kid attends....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Be more concerned about why she developed a tic.

That's what I wonder about. Do you think it's anxiety, OP?