Tourette Syndrome
When our daughter was about six years old, she began making repetitive hand gestures and vocalizations. She began sniffling constantly, and at first we thought it might be allergies. Her doctor agreed and wrote a prescription, which didn’t help. The sniffling continued and she also began frequent throat clearing. Additional allergy medications were tried, but had no affect. The repetitive gestures continued as well. We later learned that these movements and vocalizations are called tics. There were also sudden angry outbursts and uncontrollable meltdowns. Laura said that she just had to do the gestures and make the noises. It wasn’t that they were completely out of her control. She could sometimes resist doing them, but not for long. Fortunately, swearing was never a problem, as it is for about 10% of people with Tourette Syndrome. Her pediatrician referred us for counseling to find out what was causing this bazaar...