Orthodontia and Substitutes

One of the bains of Liam's existence is substitute teachers. This is totally predictable, and I'm sure it's true for a lot of kids with TS. All of the angst we went through prior to Liam's diagnosis with teachers telling us he "wasn't behaving" are back again on days when there's been a substitute. And while in an ideal world we could educate all of the substitutes about TS, it just isn't as easily done as that. Teachers who have Liam all the time and other people who are around him all the time (including his family) have a hard enough time really understanding it, but to try to get a teacher who is not there all the time to understand why he's fidgeting, making a noise or talking out of turn is close to impossible. While Liam hasn't come home complaining about substitutes lately, I was reminded of this at the orthodontists office today. Liam had a tic where he was chewing on his fingers until they were bleeding. So I bought him a necklace, "chewlery", so that instead of putting his fingers in his mouth, he could chew on this necklace. Well, today his orthodontist (though I've explained to him several times that Liam has TS) insisted that it would be better if he not chew on his necklace. I cheerfully told him yet again that the option was the necklace or his fingers until he bled. At which point Liam showed him the scarring on his fingers to prove my point. I continue to be frustrated by people who seem to think that behaviors and tics associated with TS  are "bad behavior" or "bad habits". The orthodontist is putting a cage in to stop his finger sucking (a bedtime habit that we've been unable to break), but told me that he'd need to stop chewing on his necklace too (definitely not a habit, but TS related as it's come on over the last 6 months). It frustrates me that teachers and people in the medical field aren't better educated.