SPD tics?

by Nikki
(England)

Hi, my 4.5 year old daughter has SPD and is affected in all sensory areas. She has started work with OT. Suddenly in September just two days before starting 'big school' she starting displaying facial tics which eventually progressed to body spasms and now, 2 months later, she is increasingly hyperactive and verbal, often repeating words and randomly shouting out. Her peadiatrician has mentioned tourettes but it is too early to formally diagnose. I want to ask if SPD can cause motor and vocal tics? The reason I ask is that this new behaviour came on suddenly with increased anxiety relating to school.




Her sensory system is in overload since start of new school - we had calmed these issues down in the Summer and things were good. But now she has regressed to everything is too loud and scary again. Her confidence has hit rock bottom together with tics and hyperactivity. If we work on calming the SPD, may the tics disappear? Or is this the start of tourettes and possibly ADHD? Sorry for the long post but really concerned for her. We are struggling as a family to deal with this.



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Nov 29, 2012
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starstarstarstarstar 		Don't panic!
by: Anonymous

I can't say much here because the peadiatrician is right, it is a little early to say anything, but I can tell you that I get facial tics ocassionally when I get too stressed out and overloaded. If I get really bad I'll have spasms. So don't panic yet. It could be just the change in everything. Give her time to settle down, let her know that everything is okay, and see if maybe her teachers can quietly calm her down without drawing attention from the other kids, like maybe a smile or a nod that she can take to mean that she's okay. I would say by the sounds of it it's just the SPD. I didn't have any problems for years until I started college a year and a half ago. It's happened three or four times since then. My instructors know, so therefore they simply let it go as if everything is normal, and in no time everything straightens out. Don't let a doctor leap to any conclusions. Give her some time and see if it's school related and she just needs some time to adapt. It's a huge change, it's a lot of new people, a lot of noise and bright lights and new scents for her to take in. See if maybe during the summer if you can get her enrolled in some extra activities for that kind of nervous stimulation so that she doesn't have a huge break from it and doesn't have to adapt all over again. I've taken to summer activities such as summer classes myself. It's always worth a try.

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