I had a rough day of tics yesterday, and I was yelping loudly and jerking my body pretty violently in a good majority of my classes. It was a long, long day and not a very fun one. I only have three more days left of official classes as a senior at my high school, and I have SOOOO much work — tests, projects, essays, exams and much more.
It is a very stressful time, so no wonder my tics are bad right now. To make matters worse, I had an incident with one of my teachers (Ms. P) that made me feel very self-conscious and frustrated.
Ms. P is very, very strict and gets mad when people try to leave to go to the bathroom during class. In my specialized learning plan, though, it specifies that if I need to leave the room when I am having a lot of tics that I can — no questions asked.
Sometimes my tics just get really bad in class and I need to walk around, get a drink of water and/or go somewhere to really let my tics out. The problem is that Ms. P is just so used to me yelping and jerking in class that I think she must have forgotten about this accommodation.
My tics were getting really bad and I needed to get up and walk around, so I asked to go to the bathroom. But like I said, Ms. P forgot about my accommodation. I guess my yelps and jerks are so normal for her and everyone else in the class. This can of course be a very good thing, but in this case it had its downside.
She wouldn’t let me leave the class at first and kept asking “Is it an emergency??” “Is it urgent??” What kind of question is this? I am a senior in high school, and I should be allowed to leave the class without asking permission — any time I want, regardless of if I have accommodations or not!
I was not going to say to the entire class, “My tics are really bad, and I need to get out of here walk around or pretty soon I am just about going to fall over and be writhing around on your floor!” OK, so maybe I am exaggerating just a bit here, lol.
Anyway, by the time she eventually let me leave the classroom I was so flustered and anxious that I wasn’t really in the clearest state of mind. She asked me to bring my phone up to her desk so she knew I wasn’t leaving to text, but because I was so ticcy and anxious I brought my computer up to her desk instead of my cell phone.
Computer … cell phone … same difference when you are so ticcy you can’t hold your body still or stay quiet for more than 5 seconds! Ms. P proceeded to laugh at me in front of the entire class though and make a total scene out of my mistake.
I was so embarrassed that she was laughing at me like this in front of the whole class and pointing out my mistake in such an obvious way. Have a heart, lady … I’m yelping and jerking my body so bad that I feel like I am going to fall over any second now … the least of my worries is if I bring the right piece of technology to your desk.
I quickly told her I didn’t have my phone with me and rushed out of the classroom. It took me about 5 minutes to collect myself again to the point where I was only yelping and jerking moderately, but I knew I had to get back in the classroom because Ms. P would surely be mad if I stayed out longer.
When I got back in, Ms. P said, “Well, look who decided to join us again,” in a very derogatory manner. I must have looked like a dog with its tail in between its legs scooting back to my seat. Not my finest moment. I was so pissed but also embarrassed at the same time!
I wanted to go to my friend the learning specialist and tell her the whole story and get all my anger out, but I only have three days left of school — what would be the point? Thank God I will never have to deal with Ms. P again after these next three days.
My best friend Tie Dye made me feel better when I told her the story of what had happened. She agreed that Ms. P was totally out of line and that it was really rude of her to act that way toward me. It’s not that she has it out to get me, though — Ms. P has it out to get all of her students in general. She’s one of those teachers who just hates teenagers, I guess, no matter what their situation.
I know what your going through. In third grade, my teacher would yell at me to stop tapping my foot.
Thanks for all the comments everyone! It helps me so much to hear that you all think this teacher was totally out of line too. It’s great to hear that everyone has had similar experiences, but the lack of understanding from teachers is very sad as well. Hopefully I will never have to deal with a teacher who says “shut up” or wants me out of the classroom. But if I ever do experience this or experience a similar situation with a teacher I think I will be prepared to advocate for myself. Some of the stories you guys tell amaze me. I cannot believe teachers can be so ignorant. Keep your head up and keep advocating for yourself guys! Hopefully someday people will understand TS as well as some of the more well known disorders.
Hey, Ruthie! I understand what you went through COMPLETELY!!! In seventh grade, I had a science teacher who was an old friend of mine. She was okay in the beginning of they year, but then things got bad. I had a tic where I was yelling out and I sounded like a dog. Of course, the students were laughing at me a lot. But, my science teacher, my own friend actually started telling me to shut up! She had told me to be quiet, I also have auditory processing disorder. So, at one point, she asked us to use one piece of paper for our assignment. I didn’t hear her clearly enough so I used two because I didn’t have enough room on the first piece. The teacher came up to me and told me that I had to use only one piece of paper to save trees! She never said anything about trees. And she rolls up a piece of paper in her hand and smacks me on the head with it twice. The other students laughed harder. I was mad, embarrassed, and she was one of the factors that contributed to making me suicidal. The good things is that the only reason I became that way was because I felt alone. I thought I was alone. You are not alone going through what you went through. You can make it through! I’m sorry you experienced that and I hope you have much better days. :)
Some of my son’s high school teachers were WAY worse than any of the peers he had classes with. Students were actually great 99% of the time, and would even stand up to the lame teachers for him. Even with a 504 accommodation plan, some of them would still behave this way. We could have sued the pants off the school district so many times, I just know it! I get fired up about it even now…years later. Hugs to anyone dealing with disrespectful adults who should know better!
I totally believe this teacher was out of line. i understand how you feel i went through a similar experience except the teacher couldn’t get me out of the class room fast enough! don’t fret ignorant people my dear education of TS is the best way to deal with this and a little reminder of your accommodations is in order.
I agree that teacher was out of line. I too have Tourettes and I get very frustrated too. I know how you feel. Just hang in there!
Alex, would you like to be a contributor on the blog, too? If so, e-mail us at teens@njcts.org and we will get you set up right away!