Tourette Syndrome

Tourette syndrome is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by multiple motor tics and at least one vocal tic, sudden, repetitive, nonrhythmic movements or sounds, present for more than a year with onset before age eighteen. Tics typically wax and wane in frequency and severity and are often preceded by an urge that is temporarily relieved by performing the tic; the condition frequently co-occurs with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder. It is named for French neurologist Georges Gilles de la Tourette, who described the syndrome in a group of nine patients in 1885.