Parents often have questions or concerns regarding specific diagnoses. Our terms pages are not meant to help you diagnose your student, however, they can serve as a tool to gather information and potential solutions.
| TERMS > Tourette Syndrome (Tourettes) | |
DEFINITION Tourettes is an inherited neuropsychiatric 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 (less than a year) and chronic tics.
MEDICATIONS Common medications prescribed to help treat Tourettes: Haldol, Catapres, Proloxin, Orap, and Klonapin. * Side effets are sometimes worse than the tics themselves.
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE The movement disorder may begin with simple tics (eg, facial grimacing, head jerking, blinking, sniffing) that progress to multiple complex tics, including respiratory and vocal ones (eg, loud, irritating vocalizations; snorting). Vocal tics may begin as grunting or barking noises and evolve into compulsive utterances that are often loud or shrill. Patients may voluntarily suppress tics for seconds or minutes. Coprolalia (involuntary scatologic or obscene utterances) occurs in a few patients. Severe tics and coprolalia are physically and socially disabling. Echolalia (immediate repetition of one's own or another person's words or phrases) is common.
DIAGNOSES TO RULE OUT Tardive Dyskinesia, Parkinson's Disease, Tardive Akathisia, Fasciculation, Huntington's Disease, Chorea
WHAT YOU CAN DO 1. Teach your student relaxation techniques. 2. Some parents have found benefits of diet change and use of probiotics. 3. There are benefits of Occupational Therapy (OT) strategies for students. |
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