Curricula and Learning Links - Special Needs
Homeschooling the Tourette's Syndrome Child
Is it possible to homeschool a Tourette's Syndrome child? Yes! One of the biggest benefits will be that the child will not suffer ridicule and bullying from schoolmates and lack of consideration and attention from teachers. You, the one who loves your child, CAN help him or her to reach amazing heights and discover his/her special gifts!
Testimony from Tourette Syndrome Mother
One thing about TS that many people don't realize is that there will be some kind of exceptional gift. This tends to become evident a little later than normal in the TS child, usually around the beginning of puberty. It's different for everyone, but it's a wonderful way for our TS kids to develop in ways that would not be possible otherwise.
In my son's case, he started playing piano at 11, and at 15 he is in Level 10 and will be starting to get his ARCT degree, studying with a concert pianist starting next week. Who knew? I realize this is an extreme example, but I'm certain you will find something your child is exceptional at soon, if you haven't already. Be prepared to fully explore and allow her to express her special gift. It will be well worth any effort or investment. Hopefully, it won't be piano. Grand pianos are soooooooooo expensive! We're still praying for one.
On the other hand, does your child have rages or anger fits? I have noticed since mine was a baby that he gets easily and unreasonably frustrated, and that rages can occur especially worse and more frequently when he's going through a growth spurt. Good basic health becomes incredibly important for our kids, but while it doesn't completely solve the problem, it sure helps. I recommend the book The Explosive Child. Excellent, best I've ever read.
As far as reducing tics, take the time to study your child very closely, as is recommended in The Explosive Child, and try your best, with your child's help, to figure out what helps. It's different for everyone, and I've found there's no easy way to figure it out, but it's worth the effort.
Music and/or artistic pursuits can help a lot. [See other testimony below.] Our kids, anyone in the autistic spectrum really, tend to be very right brained, that is, very artistic in one way or another. Musical talent is only one of the ways this can be expressed. I find the more my son is challenged, the less his tics come out and the happier he is. There's something about deep concentration that calms the brain. It's quite amazing.
I have never gone the meds route. Seems there's no reason to. However, I would not hesitate to do so if I felt they were helpful. My son's tics have not been too severe as of yet, but who knows if he will need something in the future? For him, meltdowns are the biggest issue. That's what we've been focusing on lately. No fun, that's for sure. A simple muscle relaxant, like Gravol, can sometimes help when tics become painful. Peppermint (tea is good) is a natural muscle relaxant.
For homeschooling, I unschool. It works for us because TS kids tend to go way beyond interested into the obsessed realm, so when he's interested in something, he learns way above and beyond what would be required in any kind of curriculum anywhere. He has learned tons through his music, and right now he's out studying the sky because there's a storm coming. He knows every scientific name and term that has to do with weather or sky phenomena and amazes everyone with his knowledge, but he hasn't used a text or workbook in years.
The challenge comes when he needs to learn something that he's not interested in. In most cases, I just wait until he is interested. Eventually he always gets around to it somehow. He's been studying math on his own over the summer, but before that I thought he would never get around to it.
I know from experience that you have a very special child there and I can hardly wait for you both to discover what amazing gift she will have to offer the world.
Music and the Tourette Syndrome Child
One mother on the HomeschoolChristian.com message board commented that a young man at her church has Tourette's Syndrome. During his choir performance, she noticed that the young man did not have any symptoms while he was singing; however, when he was not sining, he displayed tics, some of them severe. She thought that singing, voice lessons, and breathing exercises would help. Here are her comments:
When one is singing properly, the breathing is deep, controlled, and regulated. While singing, one is also much more aware of breathing than otherwise. (Most of our breathing is "involuntary" in order to sustain life.) "Singing Breathing" is voluntary and the singer is very aware of each breath. So I wonder if that is something that might help.
One deep breathing/control exercise that I would have my students do was with bubbles. (They always thought this was fun, and it is!). Take a slow, deep breath, and then slowly breath out, trying to blow a very big bubble. Perhaps this drug-free option will help the TS young person.
Links To Other Sites
Tic Talks Different support groups for Tourette Syndrome parents and kids.
Life's a Twitch Information and support.
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