Kids With Tourette Syndrome May Have Greater Motor Control

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Brain scans of kids with Tourette Syndrome revealed they were uniquely wired. Credit: Getty


If your kids cusses up a blue streak, it could be a sign of Tourette Syndrome.

Or, it could be a sign of simply being a kid.

Tourette Syndrome, despite its popular reputation, is not just about spewing obscenities. It is more often characterized by making repeated involuntary sounds and physical tics, such as blinking, grimacing, shrugging, twisting and grunting.

Believe it or not, there's an upside to all this.

A study published online March 24 in the journal Current Biology reveals that children with Tourette Syndrome may have greater motor control as a result of struggling to control their other problems.

"The motor outputs of children with Tourette Syndrome are under greater cognitive control," Stephen Jackson, of the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom, says in a press release posted on Science Daily. "You might view this as their being less likely to respond without thinking, or as being less reflexive."

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans of kids with the condition revealed they were uniquely wired when it comes to how different parts of their brains communicate.

In the release, Jackson says the study may help explain why some people with Tourette Syndrome have tics during c! hildhood but manage to conquer them as adults, while others are plagued by tics throughout their lives.

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