- most common of the tic disorders
- onset during early school years
- affects 5% to 24% of all children
- single or multiple motor and/or vocal tics occurring daily for at least two weeks but
for no longer than one year
- three to four times more common in males than females
- more common in the first-degree relatives of people who have transient tic disorders
Chronic Motor/Vocal Tic Disorder
- onset before age 21
- usually persist unchanged throughout a period of more than one year · involves either motor or vocal tics
- generally related to Tourette's syndrome
Tourette Syndrome
- Symptoms begin before age 21.
- Tics occur for more than one year.
- Tics are highly variable, changing over time in anatomic location, number, complexity, and frequency.
- Associated problems may include obsessive compulsive disorder.
- Associated behavioral difficulties may include problems in attention, hyperactivity, and emotional liability.
- Symptoms can be suppressed at school, then emerge abruptly upon arrival in the safety of the home.
- Fifty to sixty percent of children with TS have attention deficit hyperactive disorder.
