My son has a twitch! He's snapping like crazy!

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lashun on February 13, 2009 at 9:32am

wow I sorry your going though this. I have no sound advice. But just want to give you a *hugs*

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by TrueMom Romi on February 13, 2009 at 10:32am

thanks! It's actually sort of encouraging to hear from many of my friends that their kids have gone thru many twitch cycles!
Unfortunately this week the twitches are accompanied by an old issue: night terrors. Owen has a little cold and a lot going on at school and with new sports teams,etc. so I think he's got a lot on his little mind. But the twitching by day and night terrors by night are HARD!!!!

thanks for support moms!

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Debby on February 13, 2009 at 11:29am

I think I would make sure your daughter knew it was not okay to be mean to her brother.

Next I would ask your son to draw a picture each time you hear him snapping. Find a clip board to hold the paper, something to fill that other hand and then the pen, pencil, crayons, or markers will fill the other.

Obviously he has some pent up energy that you could use.

My middle boy has had a few twitches himself, hitting his head, snapping, rocking and roaring. I've been quick to redirect these and they fade in a few weeks.

I also have special time with him for half an hour each day while he's doing the homework, and his dad reads with him at night to keep our close relationships with him.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by TrueMom Romi on February 13, 2009 at 11:31am

Thanks Debby! I like the drawing idea. And believe me, i've talked to my daughter many times about being mean. It's awful seeing this streak in her sneaking out every now and then!

And I'm going to give my little guy a little more one on one attention - he needs it! We've just let our nanny go so things are a little hectic at home and I think the change - and adjustment - has been hard on all of us.

xRomi
Debby said:

I think I would make sure your daughter knew it was not okay to be mean to her brother.

Next I would ask your son to draw a picture each time you hear him snapping. Find a clip board to hold the paper, something to fill that other hand and then the pen, pencil, crayons, or markers will fill the other.

Obviously he has some pent up energy that you could use.

My middle boy has had a few twitches himself, hitting his head, snapping, rocking and roaring. I've been quick to redirect these and they fade in a few weeks.

I also have special time with him for half an hour each day while he's doing the homework, and his dad reads with him at night to keep our close relationships with him.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Momlogic on February 14, 2009 at 1:53pm

Hi there,
We were able to get our pediatrician Dr. Cara Natterson to weigh in. Here's her reply:

These twitches (also sometimes called tics) can be completely normal. I agree with this mom that ignoring them is the best first approach. But if they are bothering him or disrupting his life--if his schoolmates are distracted or his sister cannot tolerate them--then they may become a sourceof teasing. I would suggest talking to the teacher to see if thy happen during school. Also talk to coaches or supervisors at after school programs. You will want to make sure that the various adults in his life are approaching the situation in a consistent way. If the tics are persistent and creating a problem, or if they are associated with any other symptoms, this may be something worth mentioning to the pediatrician. And if you discover that they only occur at home, they may simply represent a xsubconscious way of provoking his sister.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Tryin on March 19, 2009 at 3:36pm

My 8 year old daughter has tics/twitches like this too. I'm soooo lost on what to do. First it was this heavy eye rolling thing, not like a sassy eye roll but where she would roll both eyes to the right and hold it, then stop. That stopped after a few weeks and a grunting starting, which also went away after a few weeks. 5 months ago she had this head shaking/twitching thing...a quick nod to either side (not always the same one) and it repeats...sometimes she does it continuously other times it is random. It went on for a few weeks and then stopped, randomly. It came back last week and is worse. There is no definite time as to when it happens - happy, sad, angry, social, watching tv, reading, playing, etc....it happens during all events. We have had her tested for everything from adhd to learning disabilities to social issues and nothing is wrong with her...she is very intelligent, not adhd, socially fine. She is an only child living with her father and I, mom is in and out and has 2 other children who she has met once, she is very social and does 'ok' in school and she is not on any medications. Anyone have suggestions as to how to get rid of them??? We tried ignoring them, addressing them, threatening to see a doctor who would do lord only knows what (such as a neurologist)...even tried bribing her with "if you stop it, you can have _____." Nothing is working, she says she does not know why she does it but she did admit to just doing it to flip her hair once and it doesn't stop now. Help!!! She looks like she is having seizures when she does it.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Jason W. Hurt, M.D. on March 23, 2009 at 1:22pm

Although I'm no pediatrician or neurologist I would recommend talking to your pediatrician about this. Sometimes tourettes syndrome will present at ages of 2 to 15 yrs. Different "tics" can become worse when untreated and new ones can develop and be debilitating.

▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Nadine G. on June 13, 2009 at 8:55am

I actually thought my 7 year old daughter was the only one. This has been going on for a month. She will be seeing a the pediatrician on Tues. We tried taking her straight to a pediatric neurologist but the receptionist stated we shold go to our PCP first and that it didn't sound like she was having any type of seizure. She shakes her head like she is saying no, but it's getting worse now. We ask her why she does it, she says she is checking to see if she has a headache. I told her you have to check all the time like that. When she doesn't know we are looking at her,she does it now. She says mom...I count 1,2 and then I shake. So her pop pop says well what happens if you don't count 1,2 she said then I just shake. I honestly thought she was doing it for attention, but then the other night she was sleep in my bed and I went to pick her up. She said hey mom I love you and twitched two times. That made me realize that maybe this is a problem. It is frustrating. I tried yelling at her, scaring her about going to the dr's and she would say alright I won't do it again and 30 sec later. She started right back up, so then I ignored her.The whole daycare notices her also and they started to call her "twitch". I asked that they not do it and not pay attention to her. We had an episode in the past where it sounded like she would try tosay the "f" word, but then that went away.

Tryin said:

My 8 year old daughter has tics/twitches like this too. I'm soooo lost on what to do. First it was this heavy eye rolling thing, not like a sassy eye roll but where she would roll both eyes to the right and hold it, then stop. That stopped after a few weeks and a grunting starting, which also went away after a few weeks. 5 months ago she had this head shaking/twitching thing...a quick nod to either side (not always the same one) and it repeats...sometimes she does it continuously other times it is random. It went on for a few weeks and then stopped, randomly. It came back last week and is worse. There is no definite time as to when it happens - happy, sad, angry, social, watching tv, reading, playing, etc....it happens during all events. We have had her tested for everything from adhd to learning disabilities to social issues and nothing is wrong with her...she is very intelligent, not adhd, socially fine. She is an only child living with her father and I, mom is in and out and has 2 other children who she has met once, she is very social and does 'ok' in school and she is not on any medications. Anyone have suggestions as to how to get rid of them??? We tried ignoring them, addressing them, threatening to see a doctor who would do lord only knows what (such as a neurologist)...even tried bribing her with "if you stop it, you can have _____." Nothing is working, she says she does not know why she does it but she did admit to just doing it to flip her hair once and it doesn't stop now. Help!!! She looks like she is having seizures when she does it.

▶ Reply to This

▶ Reply to This