Diagnosing Tourette's syndrome

The first stage  in diagnosing Tourettes syndrome is to rule out other possible causes of your childs symptoms.

Other possible causes include:

• Indoor allergy   if they're sniffing and coughing
• vision problems  if they're blinking more than usual

It's also necessary to rule out other conditions that can cause tic-like behaviours, such as:

• autistic spectrum disorder   a developmental disorder which causes problems with social interaction, learning and behaviour, and may cause mannerisms or stereotypies (repetitive movements) that can be mistaken for tics
• dystonia   a condition that causes involuntary muscle spasms

To help rule out these conditions, your child may be referred to a number of experts, such as:

• a neurologist   a doctor who specialises in treating conditions affecting the brain and nervous system
• a psychiatrist  a doctor who specialises in treating mental health conditions
• an educational or clinical psychologist   healthcare professionals who work with children who have learning, developmental or behavioural difficulties

Brain-imaging scans, such as computerised tomography (CT) scan and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, can also be used to check for any brain or nervous system abnormalities suggesting a neurological cause for your childs symptoms, other than Tourettes syndrome. However, most children with tics or Tourettes syndrome don't require a brain scan.

Confirming the diagnosis

There's currently no single test for Tourettes syndrome. A diagnosis can only be made by assessing your childs symptoms to see whether they follow the pattern usually associated with the syndrome.

A confident diagnosis of Tourettes syndrome can usually be made if your child:

• has symptoms that are not being caused by other medical conditions or any medication they are taking
• started having tics before 18 years of age
• has had several physical tics and at least one vocal tic
• has tics that occur many times during the day, virtually every day
• has been having tics for at least a year

Tourettes Action

If your child is diagnosed with Tourettes syndrome, you may want to find out as much as you can about it, including available treatments and support.

A good place to start is Tourettes Action , a UK charity for people with the syndrome.