First of all, the fact that this occurs each year at the same time prompts me to suspect a seasonal allergy. September is usually ragweed season, which could explain the symptoms. Typically, the symptoms correlate with the ragweed pollen season which, usually ends with the coming of the cold weather in October, (depending, of course, where you live in North America).

Having said that, let's focus on the symptoms. They provide important clues. When you mention a tickle in the throat, it usually means a "post nasal drip". In other words, there are secretions (mucus) that drip into the throat area from the back of the nose. This tickle can cause frequent throat clearing, or it can often cause a chronic cough. Because the cough is due to mucus in this area, the cough is often described as a moist or wet cough. Also, although this type of cough can occur at any time of the day, it typically occurs when a child lies down or gets up from bed. Not surprisingly then, parents often report the cough to be worse at bedtime and in the morning. The reason? Well, when we lie down, the secretions tend to trickle down into the throat more, resulting in a cough. I frequently see such children whose parent's fear that their child has asthma. One way to differentiate between a post nasal drip cough and asthma induced cough is timing. Usually an asthmatic cough occurs in the middle of the night as compared to the distinct typical timing of the post nasal drip cough which we've just described.