|
|
characteristics
Any movement can be a motor tic. Involuntary motor movements may be simple or complex. They often look like nervous habits or willful misbehavior. Simple motor tics might include eye-blinking/rolling or nose scrunching, or complex motor tics such as skipping. Involuntary vocalizations may be simple or complex. Examples of simple vocal tics are sniffing and throat clearing. Complex vocal tics can involve words or phrases. They are often confused with allergies, cold symptoms, nervous habits, or voluntary misbehavior. TS can demonstrate speech atypicalities such as unusual rhythms, tone, rapid speech, stuttering, accents, cluttering, loudness, and stammering.
The more well-known, but rarer tics are echopraxia, copropraxia, echolalia, coprolalia, and palilalia. Echopraxia is repeating someone’s motor movements. Copropraxia is repeatedly using an obscene motor gesture. Echolalia is repeating someone else’s words. Coprolalia is involuntary cursing. Palilalia is repeating your own words.
Ten times more children are identified with TS than adults. On average, symptoms begin between the ages of five and seven. This means tics can appear in a very young toddler or a teenager, but are more commonly seen for the first time in elementary school age children. Typically, the most severe period of tic presentation occurs between seven and fifteen years of age. The tic symptoms usually show a pattern of decline by eighteen years of age.
Two-thirds of the children will have minimal or no tics in adulthood. Only ten percent of adults have their symptoms become worse in adulthood. This means if we can just protect the child’s self concept until they become adults they will generally have a good prognosis. Most adults with the diagnosis of TS function well.
|
Disabilities 
