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ASD Teens and Tics

Question

My son is 16 years old and has developed a severe tic. He shakes his head and moves his shoulder up and makes a grunting noise. This has only happened in the last few weeks. Could this be due to stress?? He is becoming extremely anxious about it as everyone notices it!!

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18 comments:

Anonymous said...

In my 6 year old son, I notice when he is stressed he coughs a lot, which seems to be more like a tic than being cold-induced. Does he have access to anyone who can help him with relaxation techniques? Have you spoken to the school staff about accommodating his needs during testing? If he is coded, by law they have to help him with the anxiety if it is part of his Asperger's.

Anonymous said...

After doing the Feingold.org diet and switching to organic eggs, my son's Tourette's calmed WAY down, so much that we were able to take him off meds. That was a few years ago. We still do Feingold and try to stay as organic as possible, and grow our own organic eggs. Whenever he's exposed to pesticides, his tics go off the chart.

Anonymous said...

Do you think he could be suffering from a co-morbidity of tourettes as well? Those two syndromes are actually genetically very close.

Anonymous said...

I had a breif period of ticks with my son that were caused by a mineral deficiency. I don't remember exactly it may have been potassium. If you do some looking online you will find the same info. Your son's could be stress but it helps to look into all the possible causes.

Anonymous said...

Our son has both autism and tourettes. At first we thought tics might be stims (and he had some stims prior) but we have a family history of tourettes and over time, it became obvious he had pretty classic tourettes. Three weeks is not long enough to know, however. It could be stress induced. Some kids with ASD can have tics and not have tourettes. Whatever the reason for tics, stress (and things like hormone surges and illnesses) can make them worse.

Anonymous said...

I agree that stress can kick the tics into high gear. My son goes through phases where they get better and then worse. Normally we can tie it back to stuff going on at school. The hardest part is that he isn't aware of them so he can't control them. We continue to work with him on recognizing the tics and the situations they occur in and finding the root cause. Good luck. We got past the touching our penis on the soccer field about two years ago. That was the hardest one for all of us to deal with socially.

Anonymous said...

Our son (5) mostly does it when he's anxious but have noticed him making other gestures / noises when he's watching tv or on his Ds he gets so engrossed. Hope it settles for him & the exams go well.

Anonymous said...

My daughter has always had her little tics and noises but they only seem to come over when she is having anxiety over something or something's scares her

Anonymous said...

Anxiety. My sin tucks and stutters when he has anxiety. Also, certain meds could cause some ticks. Diet does work. We are on a high seretinin whole grain diet which helps

Anonymous said...

It could very well be stress. They may have been there more subtly and they could be increasing. I have similar issues as well as my son. Since it came on suddenly, however, has he had strep recently or been sick? There is a condition called PANDAS that can come on from the strep bacteria. I'm not real familiar with it, but a teen I know locally had it. Here is a link to some information: http://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/pdn/web.htm.

Anonymous said...

My 7 y/o cranes his neck involuntarily when he's stressed. And whenever there's a change in what he's doing he yells. When the movie changes direction, or theres a commercial in a tv program or his game changes he yells.

Anonymous said...

My son is ready to turn 9 and he goes through phases of different ticks. He used to constantly scratch his head, then it was a growl and now he constantly makes a noise like he's clearing his throat and growls! it can be really embarrassing for him as he sounds like he's ready to spit and often people ask if that is the case and he gets really annoyed as he's aware of it and has the opinion that it's really no one else's business what he does. I've taken on board the info from others posts as I think he suffers high anxiety and I wasn't sure if I could help him. Thank you for the info. :)

Anonymous said...

My son also has ticks...actually he got them way before he was ever diagnosed with aspergers....our kids really DO have allot in common...it's amazing!

Anonymous said...

My son had tics for awhile. We worked with the Courage Center here in MN to address them. They were stress related. Also, we found that there was a brushing technique we could do for him each day that helped to relieve the tension and stress that took the tics away.

Anonymous said...

My son has a couple of different tics as well - we have found that he developed them due to his auditory and speech processing tendencies.

Anonymous said...

I have been wondering what my 6 yr old son has been doing! He recently developed a tic that sounds like clearing your throat. I know he cant help it, because it even bugs him and he cant stop. Its not all the time, he can even go a whole day with out doing it. How do I help him? I am guessing its stress? this is new. Its a little bit of a relief to see that other moms' kids are making the exact same sound! Should he see someone to make sure hes not anxious or stressed? Whats the next move when you notice your child is having tics?

Anonymous said...

As an educator and an individual with Aspergers, tics are a daily part of my life. They occur more when I am stressed. Diet and counseling are the best treatment. Group therapy works because the individual doesn't feel isolated all children go through these cycles but express them in different ways. Action is the best medication tics are an individuals signal that they are overloaded.

Anonymous said...

Greetings from Finland,

I finally found your email address from your www.myaspergerchild.com site.

My name is Tuomo Leppänen and I'm a father of 12 year old boy with
semantic pragmatic language disorder with strong Asperger features,
hyperkinetic ADHD and some Tourette features. It has been now over a year
when I find myself to www.myaspergerchild.com site.

I don't know if you have checked my comment on this article, asking for
permission for a translation,
(http://www.myaspergerschild.com/2009/08/connection-between-semantic-pragmatic.html)
, but I did it finally to my native language finnish to my own blog
http://neurologiset.blogspot.com/2011/04/onko-semanttis-pragmaattisella.html.

The information I got from this article opened my eyes to my son
condition. It explained so many open questions. And my translation has
done the same to others, who don't understand english.

I'm sorry about this email coming so afterwards.

If this translation is not ok for you, let me know, and I will remove it
from my site.

My child has been rejected by his peers, ridiculed and bullied !!!

Social rejection has devastating effects in many areas of functioning. Because the ASD child tends to internalize how others treat him, rejection damages self-esteem and often causes anxiety and depression. As the child feels worse about himself and becomes more anxious and depressed – he performs worse, socially and intellectually.

Click here to read the full article…

How to Prevent Meltdowns in Children on the Spectrum

Meltdowns are not a pretty sight. They are somewhat like overblown temper tantrums, but unlike tantrums, meltdowns can last anywhere from ten minutes to over an hour. When it starts, the Asperger's or HFA child is totally out-of-control. When it ends, both you and your child are totally exhausted. But... don’t breathe a sigh of relief yet. At the least provocation, for the remainder of that day -- and sometimes into the next - the meltdown can return in full force.

Click here for the full article...

Parenting Defiant Teens on the Spectrum

Although Aspergers [high-functioning autism] is at the milder end of the autism spectrum, the challenges parents face when disciplining a teenager on the spectrum are more difficult than they would be with an average teen. Complicated by defiant behavior, the teen is at risk for even greater difficulties on multiple levels – unless the parents’ disciplinary techniques are tailored to their child's special needs.

Click here to read the full article…

Older Teens and Young Adult Children with ASD Still Living At Home

Your older teenager or young “adult child” isn’t sure what to do, and he is asking you for money every few days. How do you cut the purse strings and teach him to be independent? Parents of teens with ASD face many problems that other parents do not. Time is running out for teaching their adolescent how to become an independent adult. As one mother put it, "There's so little time, yet so much left to do."

Click here to read the full article…

Parenting Children and Teens with High-Functioning Autism

Two traits often found in kids with High-Functioning Autism are “mind-blindness” (i.e., the inability to predict the beliefs and intentions of others) and “alexithymia” (i.e., the inability to identify and interpret emotional signals in others). These two traits reduce the youngster’s ability to empathize with peers. As a result, he or she may be perceived by adults and other children as selfish, insensitive and uncaring.

Click here
to read the full article...

Highly Effective Research-Based Parenting Strategies for Children with Asperger's and HFA

Become an expert in helping your child cope with his or her “out-of-control” emotions, inability to make and keep friends, stress, anger, thinking errors, and resistance to change.

Click here for the full article...