[ Post a Response | Articulation, Language, and Fluency ]
Posted by SLP09 on 9/16/2009, 9:54 am
168.216.90.118
Last fall, I began seeing a 2nd grader for dysfluency. He was, at his worst, mild-moderate (moderate is stretching it). However, over the course of the school year, he began getting worse. (He is an only child involved in mini-league sport organizations with VERY pushy parents who expect perfection...not to mention he is 8 and on anti-anxiety AND ADHD meds...)I felt maybe he had some underlying stressors causing this change in dysfluencies to the point where he just quit talking because he was so tense. He also developed facial grimmaces and had some weird breathing patterns going on and stuttered terribly in all situations, which he did not do at all in the beginning of the year.
Well, mom reported to me that over the summer he was diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome by a well known neurologist. My questions are, how do I determine a) if he is truly stuttering or if his symptoms are a result of his medical diagnosis of T.S. b) can these two conditions co-exist c) is it ethical to continue treating him as a child who stutters because of the TS diagnosis.
Thank you for any help!
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