what exactly is tourettes syndrome?
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Topic Overview
What is Tourette's disorder?
Tourette's disorder is a neurological (brain) condition that usually begins in childhood. It causes a child to make sounds or words (vocal tics) and body movements (motor tics) that are beyond his or her control. Tourette's disorder (TD) is also known as Tourette's syndrome and Gilles de la Tourette syndrome. However, not all tics are TD. Your child may have tics and not develop TD.
Motor tics usually begin between ages 3 and 8. Vocal tics can begin as early as age 3, but they usually develop a few years after motor tics. Tics generally are at their worst at age 12. In most children, tics go away or decrease quite a bit in the teen years. But tics can continue into adulthood.
The effect tics have on children varies. Some children have mild tics that have a small impact on their lives. But even mild or infrequent tics may affect your child's self-esteem and relationships with friends and family. Severe and frequent tics may require treatment, including medicine and counseling. Although a child's tics may seem minor, they may interfere with the child's ability to learn and can cause embarrassment.
It is important to remember that:
Tics are not a sign of low intelligence and do not affect intelligence.
The severity of your child's tics is not a good indicator of how well he or she will perform in school or in social situations.
How well your child can cope with tics can be helped by a supportive home, school, and community environment.
Tourette syndrome (also called Tourette's syndrome, Tourette's disorder, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, GTS or the more common Tourette's or TS) is an inherited neurological disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by the presence of multiple physical (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic; these tics characteristically wax and wane. Tourette's is defined as part of a spectrum of tic disorders, which includes transient and chronic tics.
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