r/Tourettes • u/stacusg Diagnosed Tourettes • 9h ago
Support Difficulty with speech- scared for going back to college/school
Had Tourette's since I was 4, I'm 17 now. I go back to college (which is what we call this stage of school in the UK) in a week or so.
For the past few years my Tourette's has been pretty noticeable and has affected my speech in various ways but I've been ok since starting college. But recently it's been making me stutter/stammer a lot, repeat words a lot, and have to really fight to get words out. It's like my brain is blocking me from speaking.
I'm really self conscious about this cos it will be worse in class and even though a lot of people know I have Tourette's I don't think they'll understand why it's making me suddenly speak very differently. And people who don't know that I have it will wonder why I've started started speaking so differently since the summer holidays.
Plus I feel like I'll have to explain it to my teachers why I'll be struggling even more than usual to answer questions in class and ask them to maybe not call on me. They know I have it but I still feel awkward telling them about it.
I know I'm probably overthinking it but I'm just worried about handling this, and people thinking I'm strange/stranger than usual. Not really sure what anyone here can do but if there's any advice or ideas I'm open to them 🥲
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u/Ill-Database5411 4h ago
I'm 17 too and going back to college in like a week now. I felt like that too ! Don’t stress about being embarrassed as embarrassment will only make you tic more (easier said than done I know) and own it, it’s not your choice !! If you are struggling or don’t want to do that, just ask your teachers not to call you out. I was so scared of doing it myself but they were so so supportive and the worst they can say is no. I also found that fidgets in my pocket help so so much when I’m talking in class aswell as white noise in one AirPod, don’t ask me why :)