Child With Unusual Mouth Movements
Clinical psychologist Dr Joseph M Carver, PhD, offers replies to reader questions submitted anonymously to Ask the Psychologist.
Reader’s Question
Hi, I have a question about unintentional strange movements of a person’s mouth towards their back every 10-20 seconds. Whenever my relative, a 7-year old boy, is doing something, his mouth opens on one side towards his back. It happens like that every 10-20 seconds. He is fine when playing or doing other activities. Is this normal?
Our Consulting Clinical Psychologist’s Reply
What you are describing may be a facial tic. Facial movements like this are common in children and often found in children with ADHD. It may also be related to medications as some children placed on psychostimulants for ADHD develop tics as a reaction to the medication. Mouth movements and eye rolling are very common. Other types of tics may include throat clearing or other sounds that seem out of place for the situation.
I’d recommend taking the child to a pediatrician for additional assessment. It’s not a psychiatric disorder as this situation is more of a physical or neurological issue.
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