How should children with Tourette’s Syndrome be treated?

  Tic disorder in children is characterized by involuntary, purposeless, repetitive, and rapid muscle contractions in any part of the body. The age of onset is 5-7 years old, more in boys than in girls, and it is characterized by blinking, eyebrow squeezing, forehead wrinkling, nose sucking, lip smacking, neck stretching, head shaking, lip biting, and imitation of strange equations. Some children have twitching that is always confined to one part of the body, others have twitching that is not fixed, and others have twitching that occurs in all parts of the body at the same time. When the twitching starts, the child is aware of it but is unable to restrain it. Most of these children are sensitive, shy, uncooperative, easily excited and agitated, and some of them also have symptoms such as enuresis, night terrors, and stuttering. There are many causes of habitual tics. For example, blinking can be caused by conjunctivitis or a foreign body entering the eye; frowning and frowning can be caused by wearing a hat that is too small or an unsuitable eyeglass frame; shaking the head or twisting the neck can be caused by a tight collar, etc. After the above causes are removed, the action itself has lost its rationality, but because inert foci of excitation have been formed in the cerebral cortex, the twitching action can occur repeatedly. In addition, imitation of similar movements of others, psychological stimuli and somatic diseases can also trigger this disease.       Common psychological stimuli include: 1. frightened, such as a sudden attack by a dog, almost being crushed by a car when crossing the road, etc.; 2. chronic anxiety, such as parental discord, long-term parental illness, and the mother having a child, which distracts from the affected child’s favor. Common somatic factors are: acute tonsillitis, upper respiratory tract infection, etc. and other acute illnesses.  Parents and teachers should pay attention to the following aspects of how to properly treat children with tics: 1, parents or teachers encounter this situation, do not blame the child, because the more blame the more forced he will feel nervous, involuntary movements will be more frequent, the child will gradually become timid, low self-esteem.  2, to help children to exclude the sense of nervousness and fear. Parents should do everything possible to create the conditions for their children to live in a calm and confident atmosphere. No matter how angry his actions, neither pay attention to his appearance, nor imitate him, make fun of him.  Parents should encourage and guide their children to participate in various games and activities of interest to divert their attention. In addition, to inspire the child to establish a residence to engage in appropriate sports activities, sports activities will help the child to get rid of their closed state, revitalize the spirit, completely relaxed.  4. For a very small number of children with stubborn tics, parents should help them to restrain their tics with intention. Positive reinforcement can be used, and as soon as the child’s tics are a little reduced, appropriate praise and encouragement will be given in time to strengthen the child to gradually eliminate the tics. Parents do not have to worry about this kind of twitching, and do not worry about what problems their children will have when they grow up. The majority of children with habitual twitching behavior can use positive reinforcement, and as long as the child’s twitching behavior is reduced a little, they can give appropriate praise and encouragement to strengthen the child to gradually eliminate twitching behavior. The majority of habitual twitching that occurs in children has no effect on the child’s mental activities and physical health, and as long as parents know how to treat their children correctly, the child’s twitching behavior will definitely disappear on its own.  It is believed that children with milder symptoms can be relieved on their own and generally do not require medication. If the symptoms are severe, medication can be used under the guidance of a physician.