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J.W.
First and foremost, you need to be very relaxed about them. I understand the getting you on edge thing. That was the way my husband was until he understood they are just tics. The child cannot help it. Sure, they can expend much energy partially suppressing them for a while, which is something my younger daughter did at school - but at what cost? And at least the one place a child should be able to freely do it is at home. It is not like they WANT to, and it is bad enough that the kids at school tend to mock the tics.
By the way, have you ever heard of intestinal issues plus dairy possibly contributing to the tics? That happened with my daughter's cousin. Her tics were directly related to dairy. Well... similar genes. I wish I'd found out sooner my own kids can't have dairy either. Anyway, this post has interesting links: http://itsnotmental.blogspot.com/2011/08/brain-health-cut...
I know whenever my child's allergies in general were worse, so were her tics.
And then there is the possibility of strep (look up PANDAS). A friend's child kept getting extreme exacerbation of tics every time he got strep, but I don't know why he repeatedly got strep infections. In any case, it is something to look into.
And there isn't much a regular doctor can do about tics - most of which are considered transient motor tics which is common in childhood. Even with the diagnosis of Tourette syndrome (which is what my younger daughter was diagnosed with), if the tics are mild, they may be better off left unmedicated because the medications carry some severe risk factors of their own. At least, that is what my younger daughter chose when offered antipsychotic medication to help suppress the tics. However, if the tics are severe and life-disrupting or painful, etc, there ARE medications they can try.