Julieconsultant wrote an interesting post in the giftedkids forum a while back. She wrote about her ten year old son, who had been diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome, when he was at a parochial school. They moved him to a public school, where he was tested and found eligible for the gifted program.
This is interesting because I don't hear very often about gifted children being misdiagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome and yet its symptoms are often quite similar to those of ADHD and gifted kids are frequently misdiagnosed with ADHD. Could this be a sign that gifted kids are now getting yet another misdiagnosis?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying these symdromes don't exist. What I'm saying is that we need to be careful when we evaluate children. The wrong diagnosis won't help a child. It will hurt.
This is interesting because I don't hear very often about gifted children being misdiagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome and yet its symptoms are often quite similar to those of ADHD and gifted kids are frequently misdiagnosed with ADHD. Could this be a sign that gifted kids are now getting yet another misdiagnosis?
Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying these symdromes don't exist. What I'm saying is that we need to be careful when we evaluate children. The wrong diagnosis won't help a child. It will hurt.
That’s interesting. My 8 year old son developed some facial and voice ticks last year after becoming more and more frustrated by school. The psychologist – after telling us that he was at risk for depression – suggested he be checked out for Tourette’s. But we got some intervention for our son and after he felt more challenged and engaged at school, the ticks went away. Like completely gone.
Interesting, isn’t it?
I was in a very similiar situation. My son at 7 had some tics, outbursts, and almost no social skills with peers. He was first misdiagnosed with ADHD no meds helped and tics got worse. Then Depression, he was happy as a lark at home and with Adults so I did not believe this. Then Tourettes but the doctors were sure the meds were too harsh so we did not try them. Tics over a few years diminished and we found an Autism clinic just to rule this out I had him tested well low and behold my son has Aspergers Syndrome which accounts for his very low social skills and he has a very high IQ!! Got him into a private school with kids who do not bully and a social skills group for AS. He is now in 10th grade and has many friends and is in the Honor Society!!!