How to diagnose tics in children? Four methods to tell you

Childhood tics are common in boys aged five to ten. They are a sudden, short-term, repetitive, stereotyped twitching of one or two groups of muscles; at another time, another group of muscles twitches, that is, the symptoms are variable. In order to prevent the disease from worsening and make a timely diagnosis, what should we know?

1. Acute simple (or transient) tics in children. The initial symptoms of tics are mostly simple, involuntary motor tics, and very few are simple vocal tics. Common eye and facial tics include blinking, squinting, rolling eyes, biting lips, opening mouth, nodding, shaking head, stretching neck, shrugging shoulders, etc. A few simple vocal tics present as repeated coughing, throat clearing, and humming. Symptoms may fluctuate and move from one site to another over weeks or months. The disease usually occurs before the age of 12, and the most common symptom is blinking. Symptoms last for 2 weeks to 1 year and then disappear naturally. Physical examination, including neurologic examination, is usually unremarkable.

2. Chronic simple childhood tics mostly occur before the age of 15 and are rare in adults. It manifests as one or two groups of muscle twitches without much variation. It lasts a long time and can exist for life.

3. Subacute or persistent simple or multiple tics can be seen in childhood and adolescence. In simple cases, one or two groups of muscle twitches last for more than one year and disappear naturally during puberty. For those with multiple tics and vocalizations, it is not certain whether the symptoms will disappear by puberty. This needs to be distinguished from Tourette syndrome.

4. Tourette syndrome

The above classification is not complete, especially there is some confusion between type 3 and type 4. Therefore, "Tourette syndrome" will still be discussed separately here.