A tic (not to be confused with these sort of ticks) is a when a part of the body moves repeatedly, quickly, suddenly and uncontrollably. Tics can occur in any body part, such as the face, shoulders, hands or legs. Sounds that are made involuntarily (such as throat clearing) are called vocal tics. Most tics are mild and hardly noticeable. However, in some cases they are frequent and severe, and can affect many areas of a child's life.
How do you know when a tic is a simple or complex tic, or even transient tics - it can all become very confusing, I know it took me a long time to learn the different types of tics and I still get confused..... I will try and break it down into the types of tics, please feel free to correct me if I have made a mistake. What I have mentioned below is only a small amount of tics, for a good list please go to this link List of Tics they have an extensive list.
Simple tics - are sudden, brief movements that involve a limited number of muscle groups. They occur in a single or isolated fashion and are often repetitive.
Simple Motor Tics - are focal movements involving one group of muscles, eye blinking, head jerking, shoulder shrug, face grimacing
Complex tics - are distinct, coordinated patterns of successive movements involving several muscle groups.
Complex Motor Tics - are coordinated or sequential patterns of movement that resemble normal motor tasks or gestures like jumping, smelling, touching other people and things, twirling, sometimes will bite or hit themselves
Simple Vocal Tics - are elementary, meaningless noises and sounds such as throat clearing, tongue clicking, yelping, sniffing, squealing
Complex Vocal Tics - include meaningful syllables like uttering words or phrases out of context, coprolalia (saying socially unacceptable words) or echolalia (repeating a sound, word or phrase just heard)
Transient Tics - Transient Tics are quite common in children with up to 20% of children experiencing transient tics some stage in their life. The most common standard criteria for transient tics seems to be as follows:
Motor Tics
Abdominal jerking/tensing
Adjusting crotch/wedgie
Arm movements - including jerking, rotating,touching, flexing, flapping, squeezing
Bending at the knees/waist
Biting self/others/nails
Bladder tics
Body jerking
Brushing hair out of eyes
Chewing clothes, fingers/fingernails/toes
Clapping
Clicking teeth
Clothes pulling/tearing/chewing
Copropraxia
Cracking knuckles/jaw
Extending arms/neck
Eye rolling/blinking/squinting/winking
Finger smelling/pulling/snapping
Flexing arms/ankles/knees/toes
Foot dragging/shaking/flexing/tapping
Hand fiddling/flexing/snapping
Head toss/jerk/banging/turning
Hitting self /others
Hopping
Jaw snapping/thrusting/cracking
Jumping
Kicking
Kissing
Knee bending/knocking/extending
Knuckle cracking
Leg tensing/jerking/extending
Licking lips
Lifting shoulders
Lip licking/popping/ smacking/pouting
Mouth opening/pouting/grimacing
Nail biting
Neck extending/pulling/twisting/stretching
Nose twitching/touching
Opening mouth/eyes
Picking scabs/skin/cuticles/lips/lint
Pinching
Poking
Popping lips
Pulling fingers/hair/clothes
Rolling eyes/shoulders
Scratching
Shaking feet/head/legs/arms/hands
Shrugging shoulders
Skipping
Smelling fingers/objects/hands
Somersaulting
squatting
Squinting Eyes
Stepping Backwards
Throwing
Thrusting tongue/jaw
Toe walking/flexing/scrunching
Tooth clicking
Tossing head
Twirling/twirling around
Winking
Vocal/Verbal Tics
Air Swallowing
Animal Like Sounds - barking/Quacking/Oinking/Meowing/Chirping
Belching
Blowing tics
Breathing tics
Calling Out
Clacking
Clearing Throat
Clicking
Coprolalia - speaking obscenities/socially taboo/inappropriate phrases
Coughing
Echolalia - Repeating others words
Gasping
Groaning
Grunting
Gurgling
Guttural sounds from the back of the throat
Hiccups
Hissing
Holding breath
Honking
Humming
Laughing
Moaning
Muttering
Noisy breathing
Palilalia - repeating ones own words
Screaming
Shouting
Sniffling
Snorting
Squeaking
Spitting
Squealing
Stammering
Stuttering
Sucking inspirations
Throat clearing/clucking
Voice - change in pitch/volume
Wheezing
Whistling
Yelling
Yelping
How do you know when a tic is a simple or complex tic, or even transient tics - it can all become very confusing, I know it took me a long time to learn the different types of tics and I still get confused..... I will try and break it down into the types of tics, please feel free to correct me if I have made a mistake. What I have mentioned below is only a small amount of tics, for a good list please go to this link List of Tics they have an extensive list.
Simple tics - are sudden, brief movements that involve a limited number of muscle groups. They occur in a single or isolated fashion and are often repetitive.
Simple Motor Tics - are focal movements involving one group of muscles, eye blinking, head jerking, shoulder shrug, face grimacing
Complex tics - are distinct, coordinated patterns of successive movements involving several muscle groups.
Complex Motor Tics - are coordinated or sequential patterns of movement that resemble normal motor tasks or gestures like jumping, smelling, touching other people and things, twirling, sometimes will bite or hit themselves
Simple Vocal Tics - are elementary, meaningless noises and sounds such as throat clearing, tongue clicking, yelping, sniffing, squealing
Complex Vocal Tics - include meaningful syllables like uttering words or phrases out of context, coprolalia (saying socially unacceptable words) or echolalia (repeating a sound, word or phrase just heard)
Transient Tics - Transient Tics are quite common in children with up to 20% of children experiencing transient tics some stage in their life. The most common standard criteria for transient tics seems to be as follows:
- The person has either vocal or motor tics, either at the same time or different times.
- The tics have occurred many times in the day but usually last longer then 4 weeks but no longer than 12 months.
- Begin before the age of 18
Motor Tics
Abdominal jerking/tensing
Adjusting crotch/wedgie
Arm movements - including jerking, rotating,touching, flexing, flapping, squeezing
Bending at the knees/waist
Biting self/others/nails
Bladder tics
Body jerking
Brushing hair out of eyes
Chewing clothes, fingers/fingernails/toes
Clapping
Clicking teeth
Clothes pulling/tearing/chewing
Copropraxia
Cracking knuckles/jaw
Extending arms/neck
Eye rolling/blinking/squinting/winking
Finger smelling/pulling/snapping
Flexing arms/ankles/knees/toes
Foot dragging/shaking/flexing/tapping
Hand fiddling/flexing/snapping
Head toss/jerk/banging/turning
Hitting self /others
Hopping
Jaw snapping/thrusting/cracking
Jumping
Kicking
Kissing
Knee bending/knocking/extending
Knuckle cracking
Leg tensing/jerking/extending
Licking lips
Lifting shoulders
Lip licking/popping/ smacking/pouting
Mouth opening/pouting/grimacing
Nail biting
Neck extending/pulling/twisting/stretching
Nose twitching/touching
Opening mouth/eyes
Picking scabs/skin/cuticles/lips/lint
Pinching
Poking
Popping lips
Pulling fingers/hair/clothes
Rolling eyes/shoulders
Scratching
Shaking feet/head/legs/arms/hands
Shrugging shoulders
Skipping
Smelling fingers/objects/hands
Somersaulting
squatting
Squinting Eyes
Stepping Backwards
Throwing
Thrusting tongue/jaw
Toe walking/flexing/scrunching
Tooth clicking
Tossing head
Twirling/twirling around
Winking
Vocal/Verbal Tics
Air Swallowing
Animal Like Sounds - barking/Quacking/Oinking/Meowing/Chirping
Belching
Blowing tics
Breathing tics
Calling Out
Clacking
Clearing Throat
Clicking
Coprolalia - speaking obscenities/socially taboo/inappropriate phrases
Coughing
Echolalia - Repeating others words
Gasping
Groaning
Grunting
Gurgling
Guttural sounds from the back of the throat
Hiccups
Hissing
Holding breath
Honking
Humming
Laughing
Moaning
Muttering
Noisy breathing
Palilalia - repeating ones own words
Screaming
Shouting
Sniffling
Snorting
Squeaking
Spitting
Squealing
Stammering
Stuttering
Sucking inspirations
Throat clearing/clucking
Voice - change in pitch/volume
Wheezing
Whistling
Yelling
Yelping