By: Jenna Stockman
On Friday, March 28th, Hoover Middle 5th grader Maeve Hashey stood at the front of her classroom. She faced her classmates with index cards in hand, and every so often, looked down at them to relay information.
Anyone walking by Robin Hall's classroom would've assumed Maeve's presentation was part of the day's curriculum. Instead, it was a brave act by a 10-year-old who's coming to terms with a diagnosis that she wants others to know about.
"I'm unique because of my diagnosis," Maeve said. "But I'm also the same as everyone else."
Maeve has always been an outgoing child. She's involved in several sports, is active, and loves to sing. But in the late fall of 2022, Andrew and Jaime Hashey, Maeve's parents, started to notice their daughter acting a little differently with the appearance of tics.
"It began with humming. Then we noticed she would hear a word in a movie and just constantly repeat it," Jaime said. "It was then that I thought something was going on."
The family consulted a neurologist who said they couldn't make a diagnosis unless there was evidence of motor and verbal tics for over a year. The next 18 months were a whirlwind since Maeve's tics would peak and then slow down.
"In the fall and in the spring, Maeve's tics were very noticeable," Jaime said. "Then in the summer, they almost disappeared, and I thought 'wow, they're going away'. Then in the fall, the tics started back up again and really ramped up."
In late September 2024, Maeve was officially diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome (TS). It's a neurological disorder that consists of repetitive, involuntary movements and/or sounds. There's no cure for TS and the tics that Maeve experiences are changing all the time.
It's why Maeve's family decided to seek out Dr. Jen Gordon, one of two occupational therapists in the area who are certified in Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT), an evidence-based, non-medicinal approach to help with tic relief. Maeve meets with Dr. Gordon once a week and in those sessions, she's training her brain to turn her tics into something less noticeable and more comfortable. Since working with Dr. Gordon, Maeve's parents have seen a complete 180 in their daughter.
"When she was first diagnosed, she wanted no ownership at all. She was confused and upset; it was heartbreaking," Jaime said. "Over these last few months working with Dr. Gordon, we've seen her own the diagnosis and feel more comfortable with it. With comfort comes confidence. With confidence comes less anxiety. With less anxiety comes less tics. The confidence has been the most instrumental for our family because she talks about it more."
Maeve's comfort and acceptance of her diagnosis encouraged her to take a big leap. Since the majority, if not all, of her classmates were unaware of what she was going through, she wanted to share the personal side of her experience having tics.
"Some of my classmates would ask me what I was doing [when I had a tic] or sometimes they were giving me looks," Maeve said. "I wanted them to understand what I was going through."
Which is why, on March 28th, Maeve stood in front of her classmates and shared the mental and physical battle she goes through each day. With the help of Dr. Gordon, Maeve explained what TS is, how she got diagnosed, how she learns to live with TS, and how they should treat her when she has a tic during the school day.
"I'm proud of myself," Maeve said about sharing her diagnosis with her classmates. "Now, they understand and can also help me too."
During the presentation, Maeve and Dr. Gordon had the class participate in a hands-on exercise. They told them to write the words to the "Pledge of Allegiance" as fast as they could in 60 seconds. Over the course of that minute, Maeve and Dr. Gordon interrupted the students several times - telling them to either stop and raise their hand or "bawk like a chicken" when they heard a certain word.
When the 60 seconds were up, none of the students were able to finish the exercise. Many felt "frustrated" and "annoyed", while others felt "confused" and "angry". Maeve then explained that the hand raises and verbal "bawks" represent the tics she experiences at any given time, and all of those feelings they felt in a minute are what she feels all day as someone with TS. By the end of the presentation, Maeve's classmates had a better understanding of her diagnosis and more knowledge on how to help.
"Since the beginning of the year, we've helped Maeve feel more comfortable by moving her desk toward the door so she could quietly excuse herself, or have made accommodations to take any added stress away," Hall said. "The fact that she felt comfortable enough now to share something so personal with us, makes me so emotional. I'm so proud of her and I know everyone else is too."
"It's pretty amazing," Jaime said. "She's accepting of this disability and, more than just accepting, she's owning it. She's advocating for herself and I know, through this, she's thinking about and advocating for others too."
