Category: Tic Disorders blog

Outcome after a child starts ticcing

Results from our prospective study of children with recent-onset tics were just published. Read all about it here: https://link.growkudos.com/1f99dltmtj4

Tourette survey May 1–3

We were asked to share this request: Pillar Patient Advocates has been asked to help with finding 3-4 parents/caregivers of children under 18, and 1-2 adults over 18 currently on a prescription treatment for Tourette Syndrome who are interested in participating in a 60 minute phone/web interview to share their experiences and opinions about treatments. […]

School counselors, ask us questions.

You can ask us questions about Tourette syndrome and other tic disorders by replying to this post. If one of you has a question, you probably aren’t the only one with that question, so we will post it and an answer here so other counselors may benefit, too. If you don’t want your name to […]

TAA awards our Center of Excellence a Community Engagement Grant

The Tourette Association of America awarded the WUSTL Center of Excellence a Community Engagement Grant titled “Training the trainers: Empowering school counselors for outreach to teachers and students.” This project focuses on educator education in the greater St. Louis area. Specifically, we intend to involve a hitherto-underappreciated resource in schools. School counselors are involved in teaching […]

Tourette’s Awareness Month (May 15-June 15)

Hello all! Happy Tourette’s Awareness Month! To help celebrate, the Tourette Association of America has a myriad of different opportunities and events lined up! Here are a few current offerings: TIC-CON This Week – May 19 & 20 | Free and Virtual We’re gearing up for TIC-CON, our free virtual national conference. Using a new, […]

Median Nerve Stimulation Study

I am pleased to announce that our Median Nerve Stimulation study, examining MNS as a potential treatment for Tourette’s syndrome, is published in the Journal of Clinical Medicine. A brief summary for lay people appears here. Thank you to all our colleagues, staff, and participants who helped make this research possible!

REGISTER TODAY! – TAA’s 50th Anniversary Supporting Abilities Gala!

The Tourette Association of America is celebrating its 50th Anniversary with its Supporting Abilities Gala on November 10, 2022 at Tribeca Rooftop in New York City. They would greatly appreciate it if you would consider attending the Gala, taking out a journal ad to show your support, and/or spreading the word to your family and friends. The funds raised at the Gala support the […]

Why Tic Severity Changes from Then to Now and from Here to There

In our paper, “Why tic severity changes from then to now and from here to there“, we review the literature on situations that transiently worsen or improve tics. Interesting conclusions: (1) our interpretations of personal experience sometimes can mislead us, and (2) behavior therapies for tics use temporary effects on tics to effect lasting change. […]

New Online Study for Individuals With Tourettes

Our colleague, Stephen Jackson, is conducting an online study to study visual judgment in individuals with tic disorders such as Tourette Syndrome. Individuals WITHOUT a tic disorder are also welcome to take part. More information can be found at https://twitter.com/jackson684/status/1559531597216583680?s=20&t=Kjp6S-sbsv40z2kcB4t_IQ Click the link below to participate! https://t.co/IL8UGMjMv4

How many people would be interested in a commercial tic treatment device?

Neurotherapeutics Solutions Ltd., a start-up from our colleagues at the University of Nottingham (U.K.), is developing a wristwatch-like device for treating tics. Potential investors, however, tend to think that Tourette only affects kids, that only people with severe tics would want to buy such a device, and so on, so they figure the market would […]

TAA Teen Summit Opportunity-Deadline Extended to April 13

Friday, May 13, 2022, the Tourette Association of America (TAA) will be hosting the 2022 Teen Summit (Summit). This “in-person” Summit is a program with topics and speakers geared specifically to the needs and interests of teens living with TS. Attendees will connect with peers, learn from TS experts, and have meaningful discussion about topics […]

Distinguishing between compulsions and complex tics

The answer is not simple. Often the answer is obvious–always washing your hands 5 times is a compulsion. Yelling “What’s that?!” many times a day because it just feels like you have to is a complex tic. Even when the phenomenology is less classic, one can usually tell them apart by asking why the person […]

Prognosis of tic disorders

We summarized what is known about the course of tic disorders over time, including what we know about predicting outcome in individual patients. Last year we published a review article that summarizes what is known about the important and common question, “hey, doc, will the tics get worse or go away?” Some of this information […]

A new treatment for TS (kind of)

Here’s a press release from the UK national health authority describing very positive interim results of the ORBIT study in England. It provides the best evidence yet for the efficacy of a behavior therapy called exposure and response prevention (ERP) for tics. ERP has been around for a long time, and is still a first-line […]

New research on tic timing

Tics happen in a fractal time pattern, even only a few months after tics begin. New work from our lab confirms that tics happen in a time pattern that is fractal. We explain the meaning of those words, the results, and their possible implications on this page. A press release from Wash.U. is available here. […]

European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome (ESSTS) Meeting

Dates: June 9-11, 2022 Location: Lausanne, Switzerland Contact: administrator@essts.org; You can also follow Dr. Seonaid Anderson on Twitter @Seonaidanderso2 If you are a patient or representative of a tics or Tourette Syndrome patient association, you are welcome to come to the ESSTS European Society for the Study of Tourette Syndrome meeting on 9-11 JUNE 2022. […]

New review articles on Tourette syndrome

Here are some review articles on Tourette syndrome that we published this year. The newest was published just today. Keisuke Ueda and Kevin J. Black: Recent progress on Tourette syndrome. Faculty Reviews 2021; 10:70. doi: 10.12703/r/10-70. Keisuke Ueda and Kevin J. Black: A Comprehensive Review of Tic Disorders in Children. Journal of Clinical Medicine 2021; 10(11):2479. doi: 10.3390/jcm10112479. Kevin J. […]

Suggestions for engaging with the media

Dr. Seonaid Anderson, who knows a lot about Tourette syndrome, has written some suggestions for people with tics to consider before agreeing to be recorded for e.g. a news story. These are good, thought-provoking points to consider before agreeing to such a situation. As she points out, many people with TS have had a good […]

International Tourettes Day

June 7 is International Tourettes Day! Today, we celebrate individuals and their families who have been impacted by Tourettes. Spread the word to your family and friends! To learn more about the global and individual impact of Tourette Syndrome, you can visit the YouTube channel of Tics and Tourettes across the Globe (TTAG).

Journal special issue on Tourette syndrome

This post is more for our academic colleagues, but others of you may also find it interesting. Dr. Deanna Greene, now at UCSD, and I are guest editors for a special issue of the Journal of Clinical Medicine on “clinical and pathophysiological studies of Tourette syndrome.” We invite manuscript submissions relevant to that topic. The […]

Can median nerve stimulation reduce tics?

A fascinating publication from the University of Nottingham describes a non-invasive method that may reduce tics. The idea is that rhythmic input to a brain region can entrain that region to fire in synchrony with the input, and some rhythmic firing patterns seem to inhibit movement. The stimulation was delivered by generating a small electrical […]

Cool research result from the New Tics study

We just published results showing that brain structure, measured by MRI when we first met children with recent onset of tics, helped predict how much improvement there would be in a clinical rating scale for tics when the children returned at the 1-year anniversary of their first tic. Read more about it either here, written […]

Miles for Tourettes

 Since the Tourette Association of America’s National Awareness 5K was cancelled, they have created an event that everyone can participate in and fundraise for from across the nation called Miles for Tourette! This new virtual event takes place throughout Awareness Month (May 15 – June 15) and they have scheduled weekly fitness classes along with physical fitness […]

COVID-19 Changes to the New Tics Study

We are currently working to adapt the New Tics study so that study visits can occur online, for optimal safety for all due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As further information about online study visits becomes available, we’ll add updates here:  https://tics.wustl.edu/participate/new-tics-study/  Stay safe everyone!

Tic Talk 2020 final survey results

Twenty-seven people responded to our survey asking people what content they wanted for our Tic Talk 2020 meeting (May 2, here at Wash. U.). Thank you! Most respondents (81%) were family members of someone with tics. And … the envelope, please! Here are the main results: Topics you are interested in: Tics at school, working […]

Disappointing results from VMAT2 inhibitors

Teva Pharmaceuticals recently announced that in a couple of studies, deutetrabenazine did not prove statistically superior to placebo for treatment of Tourette syndrome in youth.* This  honestly comes as a big surprise to me (and of course to the sponsor). Although without controlled trial evidence, its parent drug tetrabenazine had been used for tics for […]

TAA statement on PANDAS

The Tourette Association of America’s PANDAS/PANS Workgroup has issued a public statement about PANDAS. It succinctly summarizes the current state of evidence about this controversial diagnosis. A recommended read for anyone interested.

Tic Talk 2020 initial survey results

Below is a brief summary of the results from the first 21 people to take the survey. If you haven’t already responded, we’d love your input to help us design Tic Talk 2020 by taking this short 5-question survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8XT6Z7K Topics you are interested in: Tics and school: 76% How psychological factors or situations influence tics: […]

Help us plan content for Tic Talk 2020

Tic Talk 2020 is on! Saturday, May 2, 2020, at Wash. U. School of Medicine. We want to hear from you about what topics we should cover. Please take this short 5-question survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/8XT6Z7K Thank you!

Online survey for anyone 18+ diagnosed with TS

Sharing an online survey about eating and dietary behaviors. From the University of Hertfordshire, UK,  via Tourettes Action. For individuals aged 18 or over from all over the world. To find out more or to take part, click here.

New web address!

The web page for the TAA Center of Excellence at Washington University in St. Louis is now available at tics.wustl.edu—easier to remember, we hope.

Safety of antipsychotic medications

A new publication reports on antipsychotic medications in people with schizophrenia. Of course schizophrenia is very different from tic disorders. Nevertheless, the medications best proven to reduce tic severity are also used as antipsychotics. In both populations concerns arise about the long-term impacts of physical side effects of antipsychotics, especially with regards to obesity and […]

Interesting retrospective study of Provisional Tic Disorder

I just saw this abstract from 2 years ago. The authors looked at back at the medical history at initial presentation from 60 children with Tourette syndrome. Most (60%) had multiple motor tics during their “first tic episode” (a term not defined in the abstract). Children who had phonic tics initially were older.

TAA Center of Excellence designation

In June of this year, the Tourette Association of America chose Washington University as a Center of Excellence! This designation recognizes the longstanding breadth and depth of expertise in patient care and research of our colleagues here at WUSTL and of the Greater Missouri TAA chapter. Hooray and thank you! However, we know we haven’t […]

Tics in ADHD

ADHD is really common in people with tics: at least 50% of children with tics also have ADHD [1]. What about the other side? I mean, how common are tics in children with ADHD? Until recently, I would have said, “well, more common than in kids without ADHD.” That’s true, but recently I have begun […]

“I’ve found the answer to TS,” or why science isn’t faster

Recently someone with TS wrote me to say that he had discovered a trigger for tics and a potential treatment that might apply to others. I applaud his careful observations and willingness to share. But how can we move this observation forward? After all, numerous potential cures to TS have been proposed, ranging from antibiotics […]

Treating tics: an overview

What can I do for my child with tics? The first question is whether s/he needs treatment. Most children probably don’t. All of our current treatments just reduce the symptoms. A key question is, are the tics really interfering (now) with schoolwork or friendship, or interfering with other students’ learning? If so, then that’s a […]

Results from chapter grants survey, 10/2018

The results are in! We collected 33 votes (see “Oops” below to check whether your vote counted). We will use this information to guide our application to TAA. Stay tuned by connecting with the chapter or following the WashU Tics page on Facebook or @NewTics on Twitter.  Background The Tourette Association of America (TAA), in partnership with the […]

TicTrainer software description

We have just published a revised description of the software that runs TicTrainer.com, which is meant to help people practice tic suppression in a video-game-like format with help from a third party observer (like a parent or clinician). Here is further information.

Which children can suppress tics best?

See this link for information about recently-published research from Wash.U. combined with several other research groups.

“Rage attacks” in children with tics

A couple of our recent study volunteers had serious problems with what you could variously call sudden tantrums, explosive outbursts, or brief violence. Of course, kids with tics can have all the problems anyone else can have. But about 1 in 5 children with Tourette syndrome have experiences that have been called “rage attacks.” These rage […]