Essay - Tourette Syndrome in Children Introduction - What Is Tourette Syndrome?...

Tourette Syndrome in Children

Introduction - What is Tourette Syndrome?

Tourette Syndrome (TS) ***** an inherited neurological disorder generally associated with tics. Tics are defined as either involuntary body movements, or ***** vocal sounds that ***** usually repetitive. The occurrence of TS in children is about 1 of every 2000 *****, with an incre*****ed occurrence in boys as opposed to girls. The syndrome itself is named for the French neurologist Dr. George Gilles de la Tourette, who diagnosed the first patient ***** the illness ***** 1885.

Section One: How do you know if you have it? (Symp*****ms and Diagnosis)

***** specifics vary from one source ***** information to the next. Some publications, such as the webs*****e for the Jim Eisenreich Foundation for Children, suggest waiting until ***** ***** are present ***** at least one year, and th***** multiple tics must be shown - vocal ***** physical (though not at the same time). Other sites claim that the tics usually ********** really surface ***** the children are around five or six years old, but always before ********** ***** twenty-*****. ***** occurrence of TS is increased if the child has a parent or sibling with TS. In many instances, the tics seem ***** disappear completely when ***** patient is in his or her twenties, but some *****s are f*****ced to live with ***** for the rest of their lives. TS is often misdiagnosed because so little is really known ***** the disease. It is a clinical disease, meaning ***** there ***** no blood tests that can be done ***** prove that *****one has it. The uncertainty surrounding the disease causes a lot of children ***** TS to have a hard struggle at school, w*****h personal relationships, and can cause them to become the target of ridicule. Children, of course, are sc*****d ***** *****at they don't understand, and ***** is *****t something that has always been openly talked about. Some of the preconceived notions about people with TS are ridiculous - even that they ***** demon possessed and ***** is why they scream out obscenities! In truth, the act of screaming out obscenities (coprolalia) occurs less than 15% of the time in those with TS. The media coverage ***** TS just seems to highlight the cases in which the ***** repeat things that are inappropriate.

One specific research study focused on ***** occurrence of TS ***** tics in primary school children. This ***** was published in the Journal of the Ameri***** Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. The same doc*****r saw a general populati***** of ***** school aged ***** in Sweden in a ***** setting. The findings reg*****rding rates ***** ***** were alarming - ***** boys, the rate of occurrence was 1.7% with girls being ***** 0.5%. Overall the rate ***** 1.1% for *****ir general population sample. The ratio ***** ***** occurrence in boys vs. girls was anywhere from 4:1 to 6:1. The rate of comorbid conditions (conditions that accompany the *****itial *****) was very high in this ***** group. About 64% suffered