The disorder is named for Dr. Georges Gilles de la Tourette, the pioneering French neurologist who first described an 86-year-old French noblewoman with the condition in 1885.

Males are affected 3 or 4 times more than females.

It affects one schoolchild in every hundred and more than 300,000 children and adults in the UK.

There are two main types of Tourette Syndrome;

• Simple - Motor -eye blinking, head jerking, shoulder shrugging and facial grimacing, vocal - throat clearing, yelping and other noises, sniffing and tongue clicking.
• Complex- Motor - jumping, touching other people or things, smelling, twirling about, and only rarely, self-injurious actions including hitting or biting oneself, vocal - uttering words or phrases out of context and coprolalia (vocalizing socially unacceptable words).

For most pupils the symptoms do not impact considerably, so the decision is made not to use medication.

However for more complex cases medication can be used, but it appears this may have long term side effects.

A more in depth look at different treatments can be found at http://www.tourettesyndromeguide.com/treatment.html

• Tolerant and empathetic environment in which to learn
• Private study area
• Exams away from main class
• Untimed tests / extra time / movement break