Thank you Dr. Phil for including Tourette Syndrome as part of you show. The condition can be very difficult and the diagnosis process much worse for the child and parents.
As parents of a child with TS we are trying to inform schools with in service programs, educate interns and professionals to provide proper support and guidance to families.
The disorder evolves over years and for this is always changing so there is never a dull moment, but we manage. It just seems it is harder for those around us to understand.
I do wish that more detail was provided to the kinds of tics someone with TS can have. The stereo type is always the "swearing disorder" which is far from being the case. That is only one part of having TS and many people with TS do not have that tic. Repeated words and phrases (echolalia)as well as swearing and obscenities (coprolalia).
Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neurological disorder characterized by repetitive, stereotyped, involuntary movements and vocalizations called tics. The disorder is named for Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette, the pioneering French neurologist who in 1885 first described the condition in an 86-year-old French noblewoman.
The early symptoms of TS are almost always noticed first in childhood, with the average onset between the ages of 7 and 10 years. TS occurs in people from all ethnic groups; males are affected about three to four times more often than females. It is estimated that 200,000 Americans have the most severe form of TS, and as many as one in 100 exhibit milder and less complex symptoms such as chronic motor or vocal tics or transient tics of childhood. Although TS can be a chronic condition with symptoms lasting a lifetime, most people with the condition experience their worst symptoms in their early teens, with improvement occurring in the late teens and continuing into adulthood.
Vocal & Motor tics are more common and embarrassing for children that have them in public. This causes more tics out of anxiety and stress. Teachers need to be educated on this condition too. Lack of understanding within a school system can cause the way the child is treated to be unreasonable.
Remember when those punish another for what they put them through? This can happen in school to a innocent child over "chirps" and twitches out of lack of patience and knowledge.
I have not even broached the subject of other students and bully behaviors. Hopefully if adults can be educated the children will follow in their foot steps.
I am glad someone out there is trying to research tests for proper diagnosis. The process can be very long and not accurate since there are many professionals that do not focus on the disorder.
One thing that concerned me was the statement about it being a Mental disease. IN fact it is a neurological disorder created by one recessive gene in each parent. Most children with TS have above IQ levels and sometimes poor motor skills. There are Attorneys, Doctors and Professors with TS among many others.
The response from the gentleman about having children of his own was very real and a concern raised by many older teens on the TSFC forum. I am glad he was there to express some real experiences and clear some misunderstandings.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded a multi-site grant to Yale, Harvard University and Wilford Hall Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, to evaluate the Comprehensive Behavioral Intervention for Tics (CBIT) program in adults with Tourette syndrome (TS).
Yale researchers, led by principal investigator Lawrence Scahill, associate professor at the School of Nursing and the Child Study Center at Yale School of Medicine, recently launched the four-year study.
More people need to become aware of TS and the TS+ disorders to live peacefully and informed.
Does your child rage, scream and kick doors? Is his or her behavior the typical brattiness of a spoiled child, or involuntary behavior beyond the child's control? Dr. Phil sheds light on a pair of widely misunderstood extreme neurological disorders. First, he looks at Asperger's syndrome, a high-functioning form of autism which can cause a person to lack control over his or her emotions, including anger. Rich and Karen's 15-year-old son, Alex, was diagnosed with Asperger's at age 6. His sudden fits of rage and erratic behavior have put a strain on his whole family. Should his parents be afraid of Alex, or is there something they can do to bring his behavior under control? Plus, Craig, 37, can't control his physical tics, nor can he keep from constantly uttering obscenities, literally hundreds of times a day. Craig suffers from Tourette syndrome, an affliction that's gotten so bad, he won't go into grocery stores, movie theatres or any public place for fear he'll be kicked out. What will the disorder mean for his plans to start a family? Talk about the show here.
