The baby suddenly keeps blinking, sniffing and coughing, is this an inflammation of the eyes, nose and throat, or is it a tic disorder? Ke Xiaoyan, head of the Child Psychology Research Center at Nanjing Brain Hospital, told reporters that today’s mothers and fathers are very concerned about their babies’ psychological and mental health, and once they find out that their babies have ADHD, they are also very concerned. However, in clinical practice, many parents are still confused about the relationship between tics and conjunctivitis, allergic rhinitis and laryngitis, or confuse tics with ADHD. In fact, in the eyes of doctors, these are all different diseases. Tic disorder vs. five sensory disorders The symptoms of tic disorder can “spread” There are many children suffering from allergic rhinitis today. Children with allergies may suffer from nasal congestion, itchy nose, sneezing and runny nose, as well as allergic conjunctivitis, itchy and watery eyes. When a child has similar manifestations, parents often think that the child has rhinitis or related diseases, but rarely think that the child may have tic disorder. ”Tic disorder is more easily confused with conjunctivitis, pharyngitis, and rhinitis in the early stages of its onset because the main symptoms are blinking, throat clearing, and nose sniffing. Plus, many parents are still a bit fearful of tics, so they either can’t think of it or are reluctant to admit that their child might be having them.” Ke Xiaoyan, head of the Child Psychology Research Center at Nanjing Brain Hospital, said. However, even though the symptoms look somewhat similar, there are significant differences between the two. “If it’s a child with rhinitis, the attack may come after exposure to an allergen, or the symptoms may persist; whereas tics rubbing the nose and sniffing performance are closely related to the situation at the time. If the child is in a more stressful situation, the symptoms will appear.” There is also a “spreading” nature to tic disorder. A child with tic disorder may have a single symptom initially, but as the disorder progresses, it gradually “spreads” to other areas. Of course, there is another child psychiatric disorder that is more widely known than Tourette’s syndrome, and that is ADHD. Ke Xiaoyan says that parents of children with tics often bring their children to the clinic for “ADHD. ”There is a certain overlap in the onset of ADHD and Tourette’s syndrome. For example, about 60 percent of children with Tourette’s syndrome have hyperactivity and inattention, while 10 percent of children with ADHD also have Tourette’s syndrome. But these are still two different diseases, and there are differences in treatment.” Ke Xiaoyan said that in general, in addition to attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity in children with ADHD is characterized by excessive activity, excitement and impulsiveness. This “hyperactivity” is relatively large and controllable, so if parents ask the child to be quiet, he or she can stop moving and be quiet for a while. The movements of tic disorder are mostly “fine” movements, such as eyebrow shrugging and eye blinking, which are actually involuntary movements of one or more groups of muscles, and the child cannot effectively control his or her muscles even if parents ask him or her to do so.