symptoms of TS are usually motor tics—commonly eye blinking. However, there are four kinds of motor tics: simple motor tics, complex motor tics, copropraxia, and echolpraxia. Simple motor tics can be explained as eye blinking, nose twitching, and rapid jerking of any part of the body. Complex motor tics are hopping, clapping, throwing, and writing over-and-over the same letter or word. Copropraxia is “giving the finger” or making other obscene gestures. Echopraxia, imitating the gestures or movements of other people, varies from about 10 to 21 percent of all cases (1999, p. 27). In more severe cases of TS, unusual complex motor tics, such as copropraxia, echokenesis (repeating or mimicking of others’ movements), and coprographia (writing of obscene words or statements) tend to appear.Many different vocal tics are involved in the symptoms in TS. Simple vocal tics, which are the most common, include coughing, spitting, barking, and sucking sounds. However, complex vocal tics involve linguistically meaningful words, phrases, or sentences, like “wow,” or “but, but….” Rituals are the repeating of a phrase until it sounds “just right” or saying something over-and-over three times. Speech atypicalities are unusual rhythms, tones, accents, loudness, and very rapid speech. Coprolalia, which is the shouting of vulgar, unacceptable words, exist in less than 30 percent of all TS cases (1996, p. 29). Although cursing is not present in every case of TS, this symptom, more than any other, periodically has brought TS to medical and popular notice. What is most interesting about coprolalia in TS sufferers is that they invoke the most unacceptable curses of these particular times and cultures (Fowler, 1996, p. 48). Early adolescence is the time when coprolalia first manifests itself. Another vocal tic is palilalia, which is repeating one’s words or parts of words. Ech...
