Jessica Kingsley Publishers

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Why Do You Do That?

A Book about Tourette Syndrome for Children and Young People

Uttom Chowdhury and Mary Robertson
Foreword by Tim Howard
Illustrated by Liz Whallett

Paperback: £9.99 / $15.95

2006, crown, 96pp
ISBN: 978-1-84310-395-0, BIC 2: YXK JMC JMP

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Extract from Chapter 1: What is Tourette Syndrome?

What is Tourette Syndrome?

Tourette Syndrome is when a person has movements and noises which they can't really control and they have had them for at least one year. Doctors give movements a medical name called 'motor tics' and noises a medical name called 'vocal or phonic tics'.

A lot of people with Tourette Syndrome call it TS. Most doctors and other people who help those with Tourette Syndrome also call it TS.

What is a tic?

A tic is a muscle movement or noise which the person cannot help doing. The tics are fast and happen again and again and they are not done on purpose. The tics are unnecessary because they do not fulfil a function or do anything that is important. For example, a movement tic or action may be a blink when the person has nothing in his or her eye. A noise tic may be a sniff when someone has no snot in their nose, or a cough when the person does not have a cold.

Tics are simple movements which repeat over and over again. They can also be actions which may look as though they are being done on purpose. This can look as if the person is pulling a funny face, when there is nobody else there to see him or her. The noises can be normal noises like coughing, or strange noises like barking like a dog. Sometimes the movements and noises can look like normal behaviour like smiling often, when he or she does not mean to smile. Sometimes the tics can look like very unusual behaviour. For example, when somebody is walking along a road, they may suddenly turn round and skip for no reason at all.

Where does the name Tourette Syndrome come from?

There was a famous doctor who had a very long name: Georges Albert Edouard Brutus Gilles de la Tourette. He was born about 150 years ago in 1857 and lived in the capital of France, Paris. He worked at a well-known hospital called the Salpêtrière which was, and still is, one of the most famous hospitals in the world. He wrote in a medical book the stories of nine patients who had many tics and other symptoms. He was the first person to suggest that this group of problems found together in one person could form one separate condition. Doctor Gilles de la Tourette also used to study hysteria, dizziness and hypnosis - a kind of sleep therapy. He also had an interesting project in which he used footprints to diagnose nervous disease. He died in 1904 in Switzerland. But, thanks to him, his story and that of so many people lives on.