My son is 9 years old and was diagnosed with celiac disease about 3 years ago. I mention this because I also have celiac and I know that neurological issues can go hand in hand with it.

He started having little tics a few years ago, but they were transient and never very pronounced. I did some googling and read that kids can get transient tics and it doesn't mean they have a tic disorder.

In the past 5 or 6 months his tics have gotten really pronounced. He has 3 vocal tics right now- throat clearing, a hard to describe nose clearing thing and a squeaky noise. He also has 2 body tics- squeezing his hands repeatedly and waving his hands in the air next to his body.

He has trouble with handwriting and I read that dysgraphia can be part of TS. He is a high achiever academically. He is in 3rd grade but reads at a high 6th grade level. He could probably write 3 pages of a story if his handwriting didn't stop him. Because handwriting is so difficult, he writes just a few sentences.

He also will occasionally have an emotional reaction to certain things that is way over the top for what occurred. If I correct him, he can be really sensitive and get his feelings hurt, or feel like he is a horrible disaster of a person just because I tried to help him with some math problems that he missed. If another child teases him at all, even just joking, he can fly off the handle and get so angry he yells, or sobs uncontrollably.

On the other hand, he is a very social kid. He has a ton of friends and can make friends easily if we go to the park, etc. But if he gets teased he just cannot handle it.

Even though he is sensitive to being corrected, at times he will display a negative behavior repeatedly, no matter how many times I nicely ask him to stop until I have to be more harsh with him. Then he will stop the negative behavior but get overboard upset that I gave him a punishment or used a harsher tone of voice.

I'm reluctant to seek diagnosis of Tourettes. I'm concerned about his self esteem. Even though he is a high achieving child academically as well as in extra curriculur activities, and even though we are encouraging parents who give him a lot of love and support, his self esteem can be fragile. Celiac has been hard on him. He also was treated for amblyopia which thank God has responded and is gone. Another diagnosis is going to be tough for him to accept.

His tics are not debilitating at this point and I wouldn't medicate him unless it was a last resort. So if I"m going to try natural treatments, which I assume I would likely have to pay for, I'm not sure that putting him through testing or whatever to get him evaluated will be beneficial for his self esteem.

I would be so grateful for input from the people on here. Please feel free to tell me if my thoughts on diagnosis are off the mark, or if there is a benefit to having an official diagnosis that I'm not aware of.

Does he sound like a Tourettes kid to you?

Thanks!