What is Tourette syndrome?

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive,

stereotyped, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. The early symptoms of
Tourette syndrome are almost always noticed first in childhood, with the
average onset between the ages of 7 and 10 years.

Tourette syndrome occurs in people from all ethnic groups; males are affected about
three to four times more often than females. Tourette syndrome can be a long-lasting
condition with signs lasting a lifetime. Though there is no cure for Tourette ’s syndrome,
the condition often improves with age.

It begins between 2 and 15 years of age, and is marked by a fluctuating course.

Around age 3, a child may begin to show motor or vocal tics. The most common first
symptom in children with Tourette Syndrome is a facial tic, such as rapidly blinking eyes
or twitches of the mouth .Typically, symptoms change slowly, with old tics disappearing
and new tics replacing, or being added to preexisting tics. The tics commonly decrease
during concentration or sleep, and increase with anxiety or tension.

Tics are involuntary movements or vocalizations that are unexpected and repetitive
purposeless of variable force. Motor and vocal tics may be simple or complex.

. Simple Motor Tics are rapid, darting, "meaningless" movements such as eye blinking

. Complex Motor Tics are slower, more "purposeful" appearing movements that are
never-the-less involuntary and typically nonproductive. These include hopping,
clapping, touching objects, touching one’s self or others.
 Some children have language disorders and impairments. Although many of these children are
classified, other children have what is called "Specific Language Impairment." This term refers to those
students who are classified for language therapy due to difficulties with their expressive and/or
receptive language.

Specific language impairment (SLI) describes a condition of markedly delayed language

development in the absence of any apparent handicapping conditions.

Many different terms have been used to describe the childhood disorder that is characterized by
markedly delayed language development in the absence of any conditions such as deafness, autism,
or mental retardation that would explain the delay. SLI is also sometimes called childhood
dysphasia or developmental language disorder.

Children with SLI usually begin to talk at roughly the same age as normal children but are markedly
slower in the progress they make. They seem to have particular problems with inflection and word
forms, such as leaving off endings when forming verb tenses (for example, the ed ending when forming
the past tense).

Some people consider the children with SLI are often at risk for reduced performance in other areas of
their lives because of their difficulty in mastering language. SLI can lead to decreased social school
performance because of their difficulties. That is, the SLI child seems to have difficulty in
understanding word meanings and has a below average vocabulary. He also has a hard time
formulating sentences and/or has other noticeable grammar skills; they become terribly nervous when
asked to speak verbally.