Tourette Syndrome

As I said before, Elijah was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome(TS) in July of 2008. He started school that year in the Plano Regional Day School Program for the Deaf. He had a great first 2 weeks of school and we added TS and OCD under Other Health Impaired to his list of disabilities(OHI).

Behavior soon became a problem though. He was having some tics at school, but he was always being bossy. He was also hitting and kicking others. We had an ARD(IEP) meeting in October and it was decided a 5 day observation would be done. We met again in November and from the information given we decided that language development(his deafness) was not as big an issue as his behavior. He didn't work well in small or large groups and he didn't like having an aide with him. We decided to bring him back to our home district in Wylie and put him in their behavior program.

We waited 2 weeks to make the move, so that transportation could get put in place and Elijah's dad could change his schedule and be home to meet the bus.

Elijah started in Wylie on Dec. 1st. I would be able to drive him to school each morning and he would ride the bus home. Looking back now, it was a good move, but a hard one. It was not easy for him. He really wanted his OWN way and didn't like having to be told what to do. Over the next few months he became more compliant but it was a lot of work at school and at home. We are still working on it now, but he is so much better.

Elijah is now still in the behavior program. We are having an ARD(IEP) meeting in a few weeks to discuss his placement and maybe changing his PE. That is where he seems to have the hardest time controlling his behavior. Some other things have been changed recently and I am seeing positive things with that.

I have spent the last 15 months learning all I could about TS. It is not an easy disorder to understand. We attend montly TS support group meetings when we can and I continue to learn. Elijah still receives services from a deaf ed. teacher three times a week who comes to Wylie to see him.

Right now we just take it day by day. Our family has had a lot of changes in the last few months. I am now divorced from Jacob and Elijah's dad. I won't get into all of that here. He still sees them and is a good dad. We are all adjusting. Jacob goes with the flow, but it isn't easy when Elijah is having a bad day. Thankfully he doesn't have many bad days anymore.

This is where we are now! I hope things continue to go well!