Tourette's syndrome is a neurobiological disorder marked by involuntary motor and vocal movements and sounds, called tics. These tics are the defining feature of the disorder and can cause significant academic, social-emotional, and physical challenges, such as difficulty attending to and completing work and social isolation. Approximately 1 in every 2,500 individuals have TS, with boys diagnosed more frequently than girls (LinguiSystems, 1999).
Tics are commonly noticed in early elementary-age children. On average, TS occurs at 6 or 7 years of age. Common motor and vocal tics involve eye blinking, head or arm jerking, throat clearing, or sniffing. As the child develops and matures, tics may become more complex and may appear in facial gestures or movements that imitate others (LinguiSystems, 1999), or completely different tics may appear.
Tics may also seem to "disappear" during a brief remission period or in early adulthood; however, TS is a lifelong disorder with an unpredictable course. That is, observable symptoms and behaviors will persist throughout the individual's life but may change often, causing the person to act and appear different. Although tics are involuntary due to their neurological basis, some individuals can "hold in" their need to release tics until the tics can be released at an appropriate time or place. This is extremely difficult, however, and may cause the tics to intensify when they are released. For example, a student may hold in motor tics during classroom activities, only to exhibit a more intense tic release during recess or after getting home late in the day. As with other neurological disorders, individuals with TS exhibit different tics and the severity of symptoms will differ (Ottinger, 2003).
In TS, interrelation has been increasingly recognized and emphasized.......
