Severe Tourettes, Selective Mutism and Uncontrollable Anger | Full Documentary | Origin

in every classroom up and down the country in every home no matter how big or small and in every family rich or poor one in ten children under the age of 16 is struggling to fit in it's like having two children in one whether the issues are behavioral emotional or clinical yeah I realized that oh my gosh I'm being sick like ten times a day the whole family's life just got blown out of the water whatever their condition more than half of these vulnerable kids will go undiagnosed on the referral they'd written selectively mute at the age of 14 I felt like I was frying my life away are we bad parents we've done this role we followed a number of families as they embarked on a journey to understand their child's behavior you just feel so helpless and nothing you can do know and through therapy and that it was my kid I wanted to build medication learn to cope with what having a child who was different really means some time you just think what an idea how come they got the perfect child and that's a horrible thing doesn't make you feel like such a nasty person [Music] even in the idyllic affluent suburbs of Bramhall near Manchester things aren't always as perfect as they seem you don't have problems in prom or they don't even divorce they don't argue there any problem in branwall is that attire goes on your new Aston Martin there's only me with a child with mental health problems ten-year-old Adam is not like other boys his age since he was a baby Charlotte has known there was something different about her eldest son's behavior [Music] particularly towards his younger brother Sam we had a side-by-side boogie when some was born and Adam used to attack him so I had to find a front and back one I need to attack children in Valley no sharing was like three the children have come out from the clay tree with scratches and claw marks bite marks and there was nothing they could do over the last eight years there have been dozens of assessments but Adams parents have still yet to get a diagnosis he's got speech and language issues he's got behavioral issues he's got autistic spectrum trades he's got strange tics he's what they call magpie syndrome I take things so none of that fits into a nice package so they all say he's an anomaly or he we don't know sorry I've been in doctors surgeries in Bramall and Adams kicked off and I've had people talk to me I've had people say to me I'm in here for a headache you know if he had one of those leather helmets on where children bang my heads then yeah people think I'll bless her she's managing the road she's coping but without a formal diagnosis for what is wrong with Adam Charlotte has no option but to send him to a mainstream school where he struggles to communicate and so expresses himself through anger and regressive behavior times down about day [Music] any reason he could be a good mood bad mood angry cross happy he also started recently sucking his fingers and his thumbs and that's another sign of him regressing into a place where he felt no responsibility and no anger to speak of just any stresses and any problems and any worries weren't his legal mind and the baby noises are him being back in that place Adams dad works away a lot but luckily Charlotte's parents live closeby to offer support I think he feels mostly secure he isn't under any pressure to behave to be normal I think he struggles with understanding himself one of the hardest things I found to deal with is the noises that he makes and the the face is a tail it will pull I think my that's hardest is because that's when he doesn't look normal mmm that's when he likes somebody smacking me in the face and saying he isn't normal like it looks like well for God's sake sure daddy could play fair and yeah probably could but what what we pay for what you can't pay for him to have an operation that's gonna give him normal life but Adams adamant we just love him to bits next week Charlotte is taking Adam to see a child and adolescent psychiatrist in a last-ditch attempt to get some answers do you know why we have to go and see these doctors why what's poorly that cross don't you yeah who'd you get cross up I love him ukulele face no I love what makes you angry people people love you that was me on during the gig and hours a year ago 16 year old Henry was at a party plainly gig with his band this is 30 minutes before when an unexpected event changed his life it was at my house and it was my dad's birthday and the lights flashed and he just kind of it was quite odd because he was he he sat down and he suddenly went very pale so that was quite scary but in past our thighs it's been like normal over the first thought it was epilepsy and then he started doing all these weird things Henry was having a severe fit as many as 150 separate tics in a minute tick attack the really big one that he suffered certainly came out of the blue as far as I was concerned he ate a bit more vital to his head back his whole body was moving he was just joking he couldn't control his arms his legs his head his pupils were dilated yet cold Clem's skin and it then he kind of got into like the vocal tics of yeah quite scary and then you start asking some questions you know have you taken any drugs the answer to all those questions but now and that was a day when our lives change the whole family's life just got blown out of the water [Music] Henry was diagnosed with Tourette's syndrome I wished it had been a brain tumor because at least they can zap it and cut it out Tourette's is a neurological condition said to affect one in every 100 schoolchildren although not every case is as severe as Henry's every day was just really upside down at that point you don't know whether you're coming or you're going it is characterized by multiple physical tics and at least one vocal tick on average every five seconds Henry's body moves uncontrollably mental buildup in your head a headache just pulsing yeah and so when you finally release the tape you just saw drained drains out of your head healthy mouthing have your head out of your arm at every family get-together Tourette's is always the uninvited guest home oh god Henry is one of ten percent of Tourette's sufferers who also has comprehended or uncontrollable swearing mega octane Jager these words are often racially abusive but in not a reflection on the sufferers thoughts or views you disgust me does it involve accent : Henri school friends have stood by him despite the heavy cocktail of drugs he needs to control his symptoms the drugs that he's on sometimes caused him to almost have mood swings so he can get a real extreme like annoyed argumentative or extremely happy and often you won't be able to still anyone be able to like stop I don't think it's personalities changed in any way it's over yeah which is good Tourette's couldn't have come at a worse time in Henry's life his GCSEs are approaching and his studying is not going well a year ago before threats how's that on target for AIDS or crow but now I'm just aiming for a C in all subjects because I've just been ticking all over the place and my concentrations gone down and then I can't really focus on anything or take something most 16 year olds struggle with what to wear for a night out or what to spend their birthday money on for Henry however he is faced with the dilemma of slowing his mental processes with drugs or living with constant violent tics sometimes though you just don't know just somebody [ __ ] kill me not like literally kill me but it's light and just scared of it to any parent six-year-old Catherine is an ordinary lively talkative child she's a fun-loving girl who loves things as a pink she loves her dolls she likes to be nice nicely dressed and she loves playing with her friends Catherine lives with mom and dad and four-year-old sister even if you saw her at home you wouldn't think that she had any problems if you saw her at school you would see a totally different sexual girl to the one that you see at home it's like having two children in one and every morning Catherines emotional state changes and she becomes a different child she's perfectly normal she chats to you and then he's you're gonna drop her at school or at nursery and then you see they come anxious her so a body language displays an anxiety she gets like all the symptoms of fight-or-flight she'll become tense she'll get tighter all over so it's almost as if she's closing a body come on I miss Brucie come on mrs. hooligan that's right do you want to have caffeine no right catherine has been going to school every day for two years but each morning is as daunting as the first since the day she started school she's never spoken a word we solve a problem I haven't ever heard Kathryn speak out loud in the class or in a small group the most she has done is in a small group she kind of laughs out loud and will like make noises if she's playing a game and things like that but not for actually speaking out loud in the whole class now do we think we understand a state did we smile if you understand when Kathryn was two and a half would become aware that she wasn't communicating the way other boys and girls were of her age we didn't know at that time what is a condition we just thought again it was part of the shyness but this is more than a fear of school because she wasn't talking Kathryn was referred to an Educational Psychologist on the referral they'd written selectively mute it felt like a label it first of all felt like somebody's made that up and that's their best way of explaining what's wrong with Kathryn but I didn't like it I didn't like the term selective mute selective mutism is a communication disorder in which a person most often a child who is normally capable of speech is unable to speak in given situations [Music] selective mutism often coexist with shyness or severe social anxiety [Music] one in a thousand children shut down like Katherine in social situations it's not that she refuses to speak in public she simply can't Katharine was once at school and was ill she vomited on herself at the dinner table she couldn't tell anybody that she felt ill being trapped in her silent world at school catherine is unable to verbally express how she feels or what she wants he's heartbreaking to see I want to do things and not being able to do them if Catherine doesn't have any intervention and she still doesn't speak at school or in a social situation word drastically affects her in adulthood when she's a young woman what's she gonna do so I need to get something in place whatever it is we're both fearless think this is where it's a necessity new country [ __ ] tip Hwang white I'm gonna [ __ ] batter you out son while Katherine struggles to find the words to express herself Henry cannot stop himself from saying things he has no control over you for him dear Tourette's is incurable and it's the electrical impulses misfiring in his brain that are responsible for his uncontrollable motor and vocal function [Music] [Music] so you see if the last amongest i was win he's been on medication to reduce the tics but with his brain feeling like it's in a fog he's made the brave decision to stop taking the tablets in the hope he can study for his GCSEs since I stopped taking medication I just only felt more happier more lively you just do generally feel bad we're not being drugged all the time but with the drugs consigned to the dustbin the tics are back on the increase so mum emma is turning to alternative therapy and when Henry's back gets really bad all he's got to do is say the word mum I need a massage Emma is a Reiki Master and massage therapist it's cloud that's working a bit more swearing sentences on head-banging and just the heads which was really he said I love the feeling that my brain is alive I am Alive I'm alert I'm not drugged Reiki is an energy it's not a human energy it's an energy of the universe if you like since Henry's been diagnosed with Tourette's the different alternative therapies we have tried has been a bio nutritionist my massage Emre came an acupuncturist the osteopath homeopathy and a regression or holistic therapy one plus one head but it was the osteopath who made a startling discovery about Henry's condition the back of his head to do some cranial work there we go he caught that he was very violently [ __ ] off as Henry was about to discover his oversensitive jaw may be the key to helping alleviate his tics it's every parent's hope that they'll give birth to a healthy perfect child but since he was just a few months old Charlotte knew that Adam was different from her friends children I think nothing wrong I didn't drink he didn't smoke nothing while I was healthy and it's in pain you just think how come they got the perfect child and that's a horrible thing it does make you feel like such a nasty person too cuz you're almost wishing that they hadn't Adam has been prone to aggressive behavior for all his young life and Charlotte fears for what this means for the future nobody listens to me and they never have I just know that unless we can get him the help now he will be in jail many young offenders have mental health disorders which have often gone undiagnosed Adam isn't just across little boy he's not a little boy with an angry nature that's not him convinced that there is a clinical reason for Adams behavior Charlotte is preparing for yet another mental health assessment but feeling let down by the system over the last eight years she's less than optimistic I feel a bit there's another two hours of me answering the same question some time the same thing and then I'll get a letter repeating everything I've said in the assessment and I'll stay at the bottom we don't know every time it's something that I don't have to go through again that he doesn't understand though I'm hoping this one's gonna be different but wifed wait and see they've come to the Priory Hospital Cheadle royal a specialist impatient service for children and adolescents to meet with consultant psychiatrist dr. Pfizer Khan do you want to come with me come sure the most important aspect of child psychiatry is observation and nonverbal communication okay tell me about your school now hmm I'm just you know there's one one question which I want to ask you yeah do you think you're different than other kids hmm tell me about it you tell dr. Han yeah I think it will be important does it bother you that you're different does it sometimes hmm how does it make you feel sad and what do you do when you're Santa Adam do you want mom to tell you don't ever say when you're sad - so what do you do when you're sad cry yeah mom does he cry you only only ever cries when he's hurt and that has to be seriously hurt you don't cry really do at all you've never house sometimes it's helped with words they're not in the bone Adam is struggling to engage with the process in order for dr. Khan to come to a conclusive result she needs to carry out more tests so for now Charlotte will have to wait another two weeks for her long-awaited diagnosis my face kameena they picked up 76 year old Catherine suffers from selective mutism because because I think talk one day I would like to look at scope when do you think that David Lee [Music] despite being told she'll eventually grow out of it after two years of silence at school her parents have decided to take a more proactive approach so today Catherine is meeting Michelle a speech and language therapist although Michelle is a complete stranger it soon becomes clear that catherine has no problems talking out loud as long as she's in her own home so the next day Michelle meets Catherine in school to go through the same play therapy as she did at home to compare her reactions her body language has completely changed just on meeting her so that's why I offered to hold her hand because I think it's quite nerve-wracking walking into a room yes there's a boat back in her school environment Catherine is reluctant to speak she was pointing two different pictures to say that she'd noticed something is in the middle doesn't mean do you watch Ariel mermaid Disney mermaids yeah a lot of her anxiety is related to in the environment of the school environment and that's that's part of the condition that's nothing to do with this school that's so she would put him over there that's brilliant I'm not gonna make you talk I'm just gonna move make everything nice so when you're ready and feel happy and comfortable you can after 40 minutes with Michelle Katherine is starting to gain in confidence and beginning to whisper 18 what she knew that I was gonna accept her nonverbal communication and her sounds she was far more relaxed and it's reducing that anxiety there's the biggest pressure for her over the next few months Michelle will work with Catherine to help her overcome her anxieties so that one day she can find her voice in front of her fellow classmates to overcome her anxiety at school about speaking 6 year old Catherine relies on sign language it was initially developed for Down syndrome children but obviously it's brilliant for Catherine as well because it's a way that she knows she can communicate with with other people these emotional issues are so ingrained that Michelle the speech and language therapist will be working with her three times a week we don't know which way she will go today it's obviously only the second time we've been in the school environment together she might talk but the most important thing is to reassure her that we're not going to make her talk mum Sarah has come along to help with the therapy session friend Catherine is taken out of her large classroom to go to a smaller more intimate and quiet space to make her feel safe true yeah I'm gonna leave you a mummy playing some games and then while you're playing I'll just nip in and put it on the table can you remember how to play it okay see you in a bit yeah there's the mummies they build up her confidence thank you talking as much ah that's that bits first time Catherine spoken in school so this is a big step it is indeed a big step but the real test will be whether Catherine continues to talk out loud once Michelle enters the room the dragon games are fantastic where does that peace go Catherine not that ah perfect thank you very much I'm gonna see if you can make me do this very well [Laughter] all right isn't it great I know it's only one thing that she's done been so nice the thing that she's done and if she can do that you won't step four outcomes to achieve success Catherine spoke out loud in school for the first time but the real challenge will come when she leaves the comfort of the small room and faces her own classroom complete with 30 noisy children as they await their next doctor's appointment Adams family have come away for the weekend hasn't got to wake up pretty school uniform which immediately changes his mood because he knows he's going to score he's not really into routine and the less people here the better because it isn't it doesn't like people around us this is abdomen this is how Adam would be just hearing him laugh because sometimes it goes through really long periods where it doesn't work and you think what are you thinking of pay a million pounds to spend half a day inside his head just to see what it's thinking you you can't be happy unless a child something I mean I'm supposed to be able to read my child like a book was supposed to pick up on facial expressions but sometimes there isn't anything there's nothing behind his eyes sometimes he's staring but he's not you don't know if he's thinking or what he's thinking and you want to just go in and take whatever it is out and put a load of happiness in following her discovery that Henry's particularly sensitive to massage around his neck and jawline mum's made contact with a dentist who offers a pioneering new treatment for Tourette's sufferers in the UK it's very new it's not safely liked by the neurologists anything's worth a try this is Henry's third visit to dr. Andre hedger and so far has cost Emma over 10,000 pounds Henry's been wearing a brace to create a space between his jaw and skull dr. hedger hopes this will relieve the pressure on the nerves that create the spasms what happens in a Tourette's piece is that the lower jaw is pushed too far back it's not in the correct place so what we're doing quite simply is making the upper jaw wider and more forwards and by releasing the jaw joint we stop pressure squashing the nerves that's making his brain fire in the strange way that it doesn't arrest that's the eyes the shoulders the flicking and the barking and the coughing or spitting or swearing and it's that simple Oh tonight clicking there did you hear that click I don't think we had that at the start no that's really good sighs never mind the sign it but the clicking opening means that the jaw joint is unraveling one of the things against is just measure how wide you can open so give us your maximum please wide as possible 51 millimeter and he started at 44 and then that will be you happy bunny after three months the braces yet to improve Henry symptoms but it remains his only real hope to help reduce his tics back at home the family is relaxing but Tourette's is never far from their minds it's just Tourette's - good day bad day find the school find the doctor find the therapist yeah it's it's constant it's day-in day-out you don't wake up without Tourette's having seen him going through it for the last 12 months is bit shocking but I love him and he's my brother and he just could do with the fact that he's got Tourette's very proud of Henry because people around and having a totally different view of him you know to adapt to various it's amazing as much as Henry tries to adapt he's not always in the party mood [Music] to be fair he has so much to deal with can you imagine the energy it takes to deal with his life from the minute he wakes up to the minute he goes to bed I can't imagine that who knows what makes a Tourette's aura stick two weeks since their first visit Adam and his mum are back at the Priory to meet with dr. FISA Kahn and her team today they're going to do a series of tests which will evaluate his levels of engagement and interaction what I want you to do whichever way you like and you can ask me more this task is to evaluate Adams logical thought processes now dr. Khan wants to see how Adam illustrates his imagination giving him an example of a story using five random items and he thought it was too quiet so then he went oh so he went to get some ice cream and then came back seven determined that your chance to pick five things out of this [Music] what's happening now bouncing on the planet planet yeah after working with Adam for two hours dr. Khan and her colleague confer on their findings we have gone through the clinical history yep and we have done the a dose assessment and the diagnosis for Adam clinical diagnosis is autism he did not use any imagination he was using the objects as they were quite literally and like the car was car it was bouncing over you know I've done it I've done that with him for years I used to get silly things like the inside tube of a toilet roll and draw wings on it and let's play a plane and he'd look at me as if to say that's not playing at all he gets frustrated and angry very easily because he doesn't understand the feelings of others or anything you know which is reciprocal in terms of interaction I know how you feel it's the first time somebody's actually subtly up front of me and said yes I think it is autistic spectrum disorder years ago when it first started I got told I can't be autistic because he's good in school and and how is he with routine although it doesn't really light routine he can't be autistic then do you know how to mean he was like if he doesn't take that box then it's not that yeah III stand by with my clinical judgment on that after 8 long years Charlotte has finally got her diagnosis absolutely my best day since I started worrying about him hey yeah brilliant once described screamin ogre Lily Kista autism is a spectrum ranging from very severe and severely autistic to high-functioning with no speech and language problems which is Asperger's so in Adams case actually the differentiation is that he's not s purchase which would have been high-functioning his needs are more like a child with autism to have this diagnosis makes a significant difference first of all for Adam to understand that he has some impairments so it's not that that he it's his fault secondly for the parents that they're not just bad parents or it's not that they have done something wrong it helps everybody to understand him in a better way actually I think is as much about I've been heard and and Adams been heard these are fantastic boy and it's just gonna get better and better and better a matter isn't it [Music] it's been a month since Katherine started working with Michele the speech and language therapist to combat her anxieties about speaking in school today Michele wants to really challenge Katherine we're changing the environments that were moving from our safe base and we're going into the empty classroom whilst her classmates are away Katherine will be encouraged to firstly interact with justice support teacher and best friend Emma and then see what happens when the rest of the class come back from break today mum is not taking an active part in the therapy but is observing in the hope she catches a glimpse of her daughter speaking I'm just here because I want to know how it goes today this is a massive step it's a big day and I'm a mom I just I just want to be here and see what happens [Laughter] [Music] please for Katherine it's a big big move in a really positive direction I would like to be able to do the things she wants to do and not feel as though something is holding her back and I think just having a bit of confidence in her ability will make her ability better you know put over there it's got it on with a hand plan of one year like ready a monkey please can you find the yellow one then you come with me and we'll go and get you changed ready for school when they came back from break she did stop talking when they all came in and they all wanted to see what the game was and what it was like what they were doing and what they had to do I probably can't say when it when it will happen it's just in Catherine's time on how Catherine feels about the next step and the next step after that and the next step after that and and I feel like I need to help her focus on what that next step is and just that next step yes just so that you know Catherine is definitely started to do more talking in school she's been talking in the playground and she's been talking in the corridor and she said to me that she's happy talking at school now she seems as though she's realizing that doesn't cause anything bad to happen she's come a long way in a short time and with continued support from Michelle Katherine will expand the number of children she can talk to we need to increase those friends yeah so she's maybe identify someone else that she could play with so maybe I could help by asking a thing who would she like yeah yeah yeah ideally we need four okay that's the person that she is but she also knows that she's there anyone like that in her class I don't know how long she's going to accept that for at what point is she going to say to us what did you do to help me yeah when is she going what is she going to say that like selective mutism there's no quick fix for Tourette's it's been four months since Henry's brace was fitted and it's not yet stopped the ticking before he had the treads he was fit he was slimmer he had a couple girls interested I think his brain was very sharp he was a nice - student life was going his way and he got really cross for a couple of weeks it's important actually almost quite worried Cajun ears hello but just sitting already to thinking oh why why is it just happened my advisors why is it doing this to me I've given up looking for relationships since God tries just maybe because it's just so hard could stop tomorrow because stopping like 20 years consult for never so yeah we've never said Henry will be cured of it and I do think that Henry will have a tick of some sort throughout his adult life as particularly at times maybe of anxiety or stress thankfully music is the one thing that does relieve some of the ticking and tonight Henry's band is topping the bill at a tourettes fundraiser tries the best man [Applause] these kids a big help because it's just occasional take bounces keeps me happy that's why I like doing so just keeps me a bit bit more sane in life and my crazy life [Music] and spit on the ice can imagine my life without teasing or might take I made for the laugh definitely a bit of a special person but there's just a normal casual [Applause] sometimes our new daily news air taking great but most scientists like having their odds father and I look ahead right now I am hugely proud he has gotten over so much in again [Music] people laugh with me not at me and I think with that attitude there's not many people laugh at him [Music] [Applause] feels like the battles over but we know that tomorrow morning he'll wake up he's sort of Tourette's but tonight that feels fantastic [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Origin

Views: 209,307

Keywords: bbc documentary, parenting, teen mum, wellbeing, mindfulness, shelter, family lives, kensington mums, mind, mums group, mummy social, raising a child, inuit parenting, co parenting, bare minimum parenting, respectful parenting, full documentary, mental health awareness, tourettes, autism awareness, autism cares act 2019, world mental health day, selective mutism, mute, girl who won't speak, can't speak, selective mutism in children, tourette syndrome, girl who wont speak

Id: -kSuUlqZrOo

Length: 45min 47sec (2747 seconds)

Published: Fri Jan 17 2020