Tourette’s is a tic disorder. Characterization of Tourette’s consists of the presence of involuntary contractions of muscle groups. These contractions result in verbal sounds and utterances or motor movements. Tourette’s is a combination of vocal and motor tics that occur numerous times throughout the day almost every day, however, not necessarily simultaneously for at least one year. In addition, Tourette’s must onset before age 18. Finally, diagnosis of Tourette’s can only occur if there are no signs of substance use or an attributing medical condition (Plessen, 2013).
Commonality and Prevalence
Tourette’s usually starts between the ages of three and eight years of age. The symptoms usually decrease after or …show more content…
Of the children diagnosed with Tourette’s, boys show a higher prevalence rate of 4:1 when compared to girls. In addition to the notable differences in gender, there are also notable differences in races. When compared to other races, Caucasian’s show a higher prevalence rate than their counterparts. Finally, not only are there notable differences in age, gender, and race, but there are also notable differences and similarities in the prevalence rates of various countries. According to Plessen (2013), children and adolescents located in America and Europe show similar prevalence rates. However, when compared to other countries the children and adolescents show higher prevalence rates than other countries. Plessen (2013) suggests that America and Europe may have similar rates due to utilizing similar scales and differing rates with differing countries due to the use of differing …show more content…
This assessment will screen for signs of other psychiatric diagnoses and identify the most severe components that are beyond the symptoms of tics. In addition to the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia, Plessen (2013) suggests utilization of the standardized instrument Yale Global Tic Severity Scale to evaluate the severity of the tic. Utilization effectiveness is in both a clinical and research setting. This scale offers the clinician internal stability and consistency. Moreover, it offers the clinician discriminant validity as well as convergent validity when used with other scales. According to Plessen (2013), the only notable drawback of the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale is the timeline. When offered by a clinician the administered interview as well as the time it takes to train for the administering of the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale is time-consuming (Plessen,