Tourette Syndrome

Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder accompanied by involuntary productions referred to as tics. There are two types of tics associated with Tourette syndrome: those that are motoric in nature and those that are vocal. Motor tics are movement based; these can be compulsive movements of the body such as shrugging one’s [Page 1983]shoulders or a movement of the head to one side. Vocal tics are phonations through the nasal or oral passageway that are involuntarily produced; coughing or, more severely, the production of a spoken word are examples of vocal tics.

Furthermore, the tics can be classified as either simple or complex. The former is characterized by quick and abrupt, repetitive movements involving one or just a few muscle groups, while the latter is characterized ...