Personal Stories

Madeline T.'s Story

A bright, creative young girl with an strong affinity for animals, Madeline faces her challenges with spark and determination. Like the majority of children with TS, hers is TS with a plus (TS+), meaning that she has more than just tics on her plate. She also contends with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), as well as sensitivities to noise, temperature and textures. So while Madeline loves to play with her many friends, she needs more personal space than other kids, and can't stand loud music.

While her classmates were initially made aware of her disorder and never made fun of her various tics, they couldn't understand why she was given special 'privileges', such as leaving the classroom every half hour or so to let out her tics, chewing gum in class to help alleviate her need to grind her teeth, or being exempted from music class. Madeline's mother decided to contact the Tourette Syndrome Foundation of Canada to have a trained volunteer come to the school and give an in-service presentation.

After that day, Madeline's mother reports that the children never questioned her special privileges again. In fact, once a substitute teacher tried to stop her from leaving the room to let out her tics, and the entire class chimed in to tell her why Madeline needed to go. The surprised teacher never questioned it again!

"The in-service presenter did a fabulous job and let Madeline come up to the front of the class and take a real active role in the presentation.Madeline feels that her new teachers will learn about TS and OCD real fast, and if not, we will just have to have another in-service!”

Madeline T.'s Mom