Tics and habits

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I hope you can all shed some light on this for me or at least give me some idea

of your experiences or opinions.

My dd is 10 years old, and has Asperger's. She has come a long way, and we have

participated in many different kinds of therapies and interventions.

She has always been prone to having various 'habits', for example nose picking,

hair twirling, and many other things. Some of these have been longer term, some

of them come and go pretty quickly.

At the moment, since beginning school, she is continually pushing her finger

joints and cracking her knuckles. I am concerned that she's going to damage her

fingers and joints. It looks to be more than just a habit at the moment, it

looks more like a stress or anxiety reaction.

School has been somewhat stressful for her, and so it may be related to that.

However her teacher is wonderful and has worked really hard at helping her.

Systems and strategies for support have been put in place at school.

I am wondering what else we can do. We did have her on a gluten-free casein free

diet but she is off that for a while so we can see how she does. This new habit

with cracking knuckles started even before we took her off the diet, so I don't

think it has anything to do with the diet.

She is on multiple supplements after being at the Pfeiffer treatment center, and

we go for blood test again in a couple of weeks.

However, I was wondering if anyone on this board has had experience with using

supplements for enzymes to help with this kind of repetitive behavior. I really

don't know what the difference is between habits and tics, I just know that at

this stage, I'm concerned about her joints. Also, in terms of being socially

appropriate, it just looks unusual for her to be doing this so much.

Any help or advice would be great.

Thanks,

Bridgette