Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Twice Exceptional Mouth tics

All my children have started ticking around age 5 or 6, and it appears that DS12 has somewhat grown out of it (he still pulls his hair, but never rips it out). I know you’re supposed to ignore chldhood tics, wait until they disappear on their own, but I appear to be unable to ignore the mouth tics, they bother me so much and I keep thinking about how other people must react.

DD8 has started yanking her mouth open again, often several times a minute, and she does it during meal times when she’s chewing, too, which drives me nuts.

DS6 has, thank god, stopped yanking his hair out, and it’s growing back in again, though he still has a palm sized pretty thin-looking patch, which upsets me every time I see it. To be fair, it was an unusual stress reaction to a stressful situation (three hospital stays with as many surgeries) but now we are in a rehab facility and he is visibly more relaxed, he has started a chewing/smacking mouth tic.

I can’t seem to stop myself from telling him to stop. He, of course, insists he is not doing anything while doing it (DD8 is different, she insists she needs to yank her mouth open because the corners of her mouth itch).

What can I do? I am driving myself nuts here....

Hugs, Tigerle! I know how challenging this situation is (x1 at least. All three? umm, triple hugs, I guess?) I wish I had something helpful to say, but I've never found anything suggesting there is something you can usefully do about tics, especially in younger kids. Everything I read suggested that even mentioning them to kids less than teens was more likely to exacerbate than help. sigh.

Once they're teen-ish, there are ways to work with them to carefully build awareness of what they are doing and strategies to control it a bit more - but it's often moot, since most kids do seem to start growing out of them on their own by then. So unfortunately, the only thing left amenable to control in this scenario is your own tic of asking them to stop. Maybe thinking of it as such will help? :P

Thanks for the hug, or rather, hugs. So. I’ll try to reframe it as my own problem and just work in relaxation techniques for all of us, is that it?
I think we all really need a vacation, but surgeries and hospital stays have dominated our schedules since November. Which probably makes me more nervous, too, and we all feed off one another.
Hmmm... i might want to speak to the resident psych about this, actually...

Oh my, yes, it does sound like quite a year for some bonus anxiety all around. Hope everything will stabilize and offer more calm soon. Some extra relaxation techniques for all would seem to be in order - perhaps to be practiced on a nice beach somewhere

Oh, I have experience for something that helps with tics! My son had some tics on and off but then in second grade it got pretty bad. I never said a word to him about it, but I started to see others noticing it and I was worried. His teachers did not say anything, so I am not sure if he were somewhat successful in suppressing tics in school; but, I remember, I would pick him up form school and the minute he got in the car he would be a ball of tics. I was especially concerned because my dad had tourettes. It was the weirdest remedy - I still have trouble believing it worked. And it was not a placebo or anything because I never said a word to him about the tics. But I searched the internet (Dr. Google to the rescue) and read that magnesium helps tics and tourettes. So, I bought a lovely Epsom salt online to put in my son's bath (he was 7 and still mostly took baths at night) . I only told him that the Epsom salt baths were to help him relax and was good for his muscles - no mention to him of being for tics. I would put two full measuring cups of Epsom salt into his bath at night and let him be in there at least 20 minutes. Within a week of doing this the tics decreased noticeably and by the end of week 2 they were GONE. I seriously took the Epsom salt to Disney with us - not kidding. I did this for over a year and then when he started preferring showers at night so I did an an oral magnesium supplement. I gave him that for maybe another year. Now he is 13 years old - he never had tics again after the second week of Epsom salt baths in second grade. He plays ice hockey and, occasionally, still does Epsom salt baths for his muscles, ect. I hope this helps! My sons tics were like a throat-mouth type tic.