My beautiful granddaughter age 6 started having tics (more pronounced) in the middle of her kindergarten school year. I found this site almost immediately and read as much as I could. We completely changed Ellen's diet. We removed all preservtives, nitrates, caffine, aspartmne(sp)l, even dairy and wheat for a spell. She calmed down beautifully. That seemed to do the trick for awhile and we still feel that the above additives do trigger the tics. However, we finally had a neurologist check her over and she has confirmed our fear that Ellen does in fact have Touretts. She begins the school year in a couple of weeks and our worst fear is that she's treated differently, or teased. I read the pdf report on going to school and it scared me even more. Ellen has great motor skills, and good reading and math skills. The tics have not interferred with her day to day happiness--yet. Will her tics get worse? Right now she has some jerking (head nods), humming, yawns, eye blinks and hopping). Sometimes more pronounced then other times. Took her to the fair and going on the rides and the excitment really reved her up. But otherwise, pretty mild in quiter settings.
Thank you moderators and everyone who contributes any and all helpful information. It has made it all easier somewhat. Thank you.