Tourette’s

Somebody noticed. Finally. One of our teachers finally emailed the “team” last night…

“We had a long night with (student). Hopefully, some good came out of it. He was angry about doing homework--as usual. He also spends a lot of time telling us that our information about his homework is wrong—another words, he is backed in a corner and he tries to lie his way out of it. Long story short: he tore up the Civil War letter he was writing; blamed me for driving him to it; I got in his face, like you told me to (teacher) :) and said that I am fed up. I began looking up information online about military schools. He broke down and cried so hard that he could not catch his breath. He agreed to talk but only wanted to talk to me.

I had a LONG discussion about what is bothering him--it is all personal problems between Alex and some people from (excelerated) Program. Something happened over the summer that he has been upset about all year. He said that it is on his mind constantly and he cannot focus on anything else. He was very vulnerable and honest during this conversation. He even told me that by the end of the day, he has so much pent-up frustration that he ends up taking it out on me.

After all of the drama died down, he willingly worked on the Civil War letter and finished it. Glad it is done but once again it will be turned in late. He really did study for the science test that he failed. I do not know what went wrong there. I thought things were improving in English but now he has a D.

Tomorrow, (his dad) is calling (student)’s doctor to get (student) back on ADHD medicine. We took him off it because his Tourette’s seems to flare up when he is on it. Also, he was not showing any signs of being more focused. The ticks are noisy sometimes and drives other people crazy. Yet, maybe it will help pull him through the rest of the year. He does not think it will but said that he is willing to try--even with the tick issue.

We'll see...Thanks for all your support. I would be completely lost without you.”

So it was – and never has been – just me but I was getting the blame. For all of it. I am going to save this email because it verifies my own case. I WANT to help this young man. He and his dad have talked several times in the past about his son. The mom and I have been friends for years and my wife has known her for years. I am not trying to crucify him; I just want to get him to work and on to high school.

But it seems EVERYONE has had problems. As I have talked to other teachers, his work as suffered big time and in most of them he currently has a “U” – mine too.

I really like this young man and he makes my day everyday. He jokes, laughs, and tells some great stories. I hope he gets the help he needs.