Transient Tic Disorders: These disorders are a very mild form of a movement disorder. They are also very common: up to 15% of all kids have them! During the early school years a child with a transient tic disorder will begin to have tics (involuntary movements or sounds). The child will only have one tic at a time, and no one tic will last longer than a year. An example would be a child who has a blinking tic for a few months, and then a shoulder-shrugging tic for another few months.
 
Chronic Tic Disorders: This disorder is basically the same as a transient tic disorder, except that the child doesn’t “switch tics.” Instead, it’s always the same tic, whether it’s a jerking movement of the arm, or a kicking movement.

Chronic Multiple Tics: This is the same as the above, except that the child has more than one tic. For example, a child who has a blinking tic and a humming tic, simultaneously, for over a year.

Tourette Syndrome (also called Tourette’s Syndrome): Although the symptoms of this disorder aren’t always severe, they have the potential to be debilitating. A child with TS has various tics, both movements and sounds. These tics are always changing, and the severity fluctuates, too. Sometimes the tics will occur frequently, and then for a while only very rarely.