“Will you please be quiet?” the highly stressed-out English
teacher said. The student he was kept fidgeting with his book and clearing his
throat like he had something stuck in it. Sitting still was something the
student was not familiar with. In high school, our class of about 30 had a
session called “sustained silent reading” which lasted for about 30 minutes. During
this time, everyone in the class had to sit quietly and read a book.
Unfortunately, in high school I hated to read; so, this was the longest 30
minutes of my life. I usually spent this time trying to figure out new ways I
could shut my eyes without the teacher knowing, but this day I was riveted on
what was going to happen with this one student – my friend. After the teacher
told him to be quiet, I knew it was down hill from there because after all he
did have Tourettes Syndrome. I watched him as he nervously sat in his old
wooden desk, fidgeting with his book, moving his eyes back and forth, clearing his
throat again and again and making a couple of high pitch sounds. That was the
teacher’s last straw; he gave him detention right there on the spot. This
student was the only other person I knew, other than myself, who had Tourettes
Syndrome.
