Time for School

George was due to start nursery school a few weeks after his 3rd birthday.  We were extremely worried about him starting.  I was able to have a chat over the phone with his new teacher before the start of term and she was wonderful, she reassured me they would have things in place for George when he started to make sure he would be looked after.  We had a home visit and George had a taster session at the nursery before he started.

At first all went well, we had a few teething problems until we discovered George was becoming distraught at not having his comfort toy “Mumble” the penguin so we arranged with the teacher to leave a spare one at school.

Once George settled in he began to let his guard down more and more, I would be called in to school to discuss what had happened at school and he was eventually given his own behaviour book.

George’s tic was still present but was over looked because of his other more obvious behavioural problems.  During this time his teacher and I started to notice new tics, vocal and motor tics that would come and go.

At this time I was still learning to drive and had to get the bus to and from school every afternoon.  This would be traumatic for George and often we would have to abandon the bus on the way home as it became too much for George to cope with.

The school remained positive and always went out their way to help George, we had regular meetings and tried out various strategies to improve things.

Eventually the school arranged for an educational phycologist to come and assess George.  The day she came to see George she assessed him in a room on his own with one to one attention, so it was difficult for her to get the measure of George in action.  Once she left, George was so wound up he ran back into the nursery and knocked into his teacher with such force she fell to the ground.  When the phycologist submitted her report CAMHS agreed to see George.

We had an initial assessment and it was agreed George would be referred to the community paediatrician for a full assessment with the possibility of Autism Spectrum disorder or ADHD, once again the glaring symptoms of Tourette’s were overlooked, despite an increase in the number of tics George was now experiencing, including vocal and motor tics.

We had several visits to the paediatrician in order for her to complete her assessment, she spent several hours assessing George in clinic and spent an afternoon observing George at Nursery.  Another chance to investigate the tics was missed and we were given a conclusion that in her opinion George meets the criteria for ADHD.  A referral was made back to CAMHS ADHD clinic.

Finally we believed the fight was over and now we would get the help George so desperately needed.

George taking part in Children in Need day at nursery.
George taking part in Children in Need day at nursery.
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