I'm glad you posted this. Our DS7 has had verbal and motor tics (simple and complex for both) for about a year and half, although we suspect it's been longer than that when we include excessive throat clearing and grunting that we thought were related to his asthma at the time. When those two are included, the tics go back to the age of 4. We haven't pursued a diagnosis of Tourette's for him, but he sure fits the diagnostic criteria. He also exhibits some OCD characteristics - especially the obsessing over negative themes/thoughts. He definitely has sensory issues as well, including aversion to certain food and clothing textures (do not get me started on tags and seams). He also tends to be sensory seeking when his tics are in a "waxing" phase - lots of continous spinning, pushes his head into my belly repeatedly, wants to play rough, etc.
We've had a myriad of issues related to educational fit due partly to the fact that he is HG+ with definite overexcitabilities and partly to poor school fit. We saw one psychologist who came highly recommended by a DYS family who felt that if he were in a full-time gifted classroom with a teacher who is equipped to handle the social and emotional needs of gifted kids, we would not see the levels of anxiety and tics that we see. Trying to pursue a full-time gifted placement however, even with a letter from the psychologist, was an absolute nightmare. Instead, we took him out of his first elementary school due to their rigidity and inability to recognize the differences between high acheivers and gifted kids. Because of this, he failed to meet the cut-off on their checklist of gifted characteristics and they would not recommend him for full-time gifted. For a variety of reasons, he is not an overachiever (but kicks butt on achievement tests), and was put in a class with nothing but high achievers and then felt he was "dumb." I'm sure I don't have to tell you how bad the tics were while he was at that school. . .sigh. . ..
We moved him to a much more laid back school where he's in a class with kids of all ability levels and has one day a week gifted pull out. He now has a much better view of his abilities (as do his teachers) because he is being judged, for lack of a better word, against a variety of students. His tics and anxiety were decreased considerably at first, but I always make sure his teachers know that he has tics and what type we're seeing at home so that he doesn't get in trouble for doing the occasional twirl in line or flexing both of his middle fingers against the desk when he's concentrating. He's phenomenally good at holding in his tics at school or making them blend in with other things that he's doing, so his teachers are usually surprised to hear about his tics.
We've recently seen his tics ramp up and he's now having some social issues, so we're planning to take him to a pediatric neurologist to see what's what. We're also working with his teachers to determine whether a move to a full-time gifted classroom is the best thing for next year. Given that his fine motor skills are a little behind his classmates, we want to be sure it truly is "different work, not more work." If we need to have an IEP in place so that the placement is successful, we will pursue that. So far, however, the leadership and teachers at the school have been accomodating.
I think the best advice I can give is to find a school that is flexible in it's approach to student success. Try to determine ahead of time which types of schools will serve your daughter best in terms of support and educational fit. Ask very specific questions and pay attention to non-verbals. When we were looking for a new school for DS, we made a decision that if the principal didn't smile at the children and say hello to them as they entered the building, we weren't interested. If you don't have school choice like we do, you may NEED to have an IEP to get her what she needs at a neighborhood school. I'm very new to the advocacy stuff though, and I'm sure there are others on these boards who will offer you more specific advice. I wish you all the best as you take this journey.
