Learning Difficulties in Children with Tourette Syndrome

Children with Tourette syndrome have been shown to have a variety of school difficulties. These difficulties, however, may be related to a single factor or to a combination of problems including tic severity, the use of tic-suppressing medication, executive dysfunction, a direct consequence of having a stigmatizing disorder, and coexisting attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity, obsessive-compulsive behaviors, or other psychopathologies. The goals for the treating health care team are to identify the presence of these factors, to clarify which are the major source of distress, and to develop an individualized multimodal treatment program. The prompt diagnosis of underlying problems and the prescription of appropriate therapy can play an important role in preventing school failure in children with Tourette syndrome.