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We’ve had a situation arise that I would love some feedback on. I’m not sure where else to turn and I know there’s a lot of experience in this forum.
Recently we had a camper start exhibiting tics in the form of head spasms which caused tightness in her neck muscles and genuine discomfort. Nothing was reported on the health form so we called mom who “forgot” to include this information. Over the last two days we have had several more girls coming into the health center with tics as well as Tourette like symptoms such as blurting out words. The campers seem to be pretty savvy and one named it as Tourette’s so I’m not sure if this is genuine but I’m concerned that it went from 1 girl to several and I’ve read that there seems to be an increase in these symptoms since Covid. My question is, what do I do with this? Do I send them all home a couple of days early? I’m really feeling uncomfortable at the idea that I’m sending kids home with symptoms they didn’t exhibit when they came to camp. Is there a way to assess these behaviors to determine whether they are genuine or attention seeking?
I was off yesterday and heard from the relief nurse that several more girls showed up in the health center last night than we had seen up to this point. Activities directors have not seen any of this behavior in any but the initial case during the day. It seems to flare up in the evening. I’m considering talking to the girls as well as parents and the Camp Director today and would love some feedback on this before I have these conversations. ACN it’s been a godsend during this whole Covid thing and I trust someone out there will have some insight into this. Thank you!Maryellen:
Thanks for sharing your situation in the forum. We are glad to provide you some guidance here. It sounds like you have one camper who actually has some form of tics or tourettes, therefore we know that is a previously known condition. For the other multiple girls showing up with these unusual symptoms, here are some things to consider:
1. Are they all the in the same cabin with the camper who actually has a diagnosis?
2. The chance that this is COVID related is highly unlikely, especially if all of these youth are in the same cabin or same groups together.
3. Have you done a full assessment of these youth to rule out other concerns? Fever? Fatigue? Other health changes? Are the tics motor (blinking, shrugging) or vocal (blurting out sounds or words)?
4. Have you tried a three-way communication with you, the parent, and the camper together?
5. If you proposed to send the camper home, do the symptoms tend to go away? Tics and tourettes are not controllable and therefore if you see variance in in frequency, time of day, type of tic, it is again unlikely to be real.
6. Tics can increase related to stress but they do not as a general rule, “flare up” at a certain time of day.From the little information shared above, it seems more attention seeking than actual physical symptoms. I would talk with each girl separately and see if stories are similar in nature related to their symptoms. If they present to health center, I would separate before questioning to try and alleviate false reinforcement of each person’s story.
Best wishes. Feel free t reach out with more questions.
Tracey Gaslin
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