"Tourette's syndrome (TS) is a developmental disorder characterized by motor and verbal tics. These tics are typically fast and involuntary and result from abnormality in the brain. They can be vocalizations or motor movements and may be very simple to very complex. It has been linked to abnormal levels of dopamine, which serves as a crucial neurotransmitter in the regions of the brain associated with TS. Most studies to date have examined vocal tics from a neuropsychological standpoint rather than looking at actual language.
The authors of this article propose that knowledge of grammatical morphology is stored in two places, depending on its nature. One, the lexicon, stores forms that break the rules, such as the past tense of spring. Because it breaks the general "add -ed" rule, it is memorized in a rote form and stored in the student's lexicon. However, words that do follow the rule are not stored individually, but the rule is stored in the grammar. These are stored in completely separate regions of the brain. The lexicon, being primarily declarative in nature, is dependant on the hippocampus. The procedural memory (grammar) relies strongly on the frontal/basal-ganglia circuits. This is the same area of the brain affected by TS. Dopamine is highly important to this entire system. These differing localizations for memory lead to relatively normal delcarative memory in those with TS, while procedural memory can be abnormal in many ways.
One such way procedural memory can be affected is in the actual learning of something procedural. Severe difficulty in a weather-prediction task indicates that this difficulty may root back to the caudate nucleus. Other tasks involving other procedural memory structures are not as consistantly affected. Other procedural tasks (goal-directed movement) seem to be enhanced in TS males. Also, mental rotation seems to be impaired in TS males, but improved in TS females. Research and biology both support that the acetylcholine-based declarative memory system remains largely ufaffected by TS.
Given this background information, the authors conducted a study of TS patients (7 male, 1 female) and their abilities with language. The participants were diagnosed by the criteria in the Tourette's Syndrome Study Group (1993) and were not excluded for expressing comorbidity of ADHD or OCD, as these commonly occur with TS. Five of the seven children were taking medication for TS. 7 male and 1 female, normally-developing children were used as controls. Subjects were asked to produce past tense verbs presented in sentence contexts using four types of verbs (consistent regulars, irregulars, inconsistent regulars, and novel (made up) verbs).
Subjects were then presented with 96 items (32 items commonly manipulated or interacted with, 32 items rarely manipulated or interacted with, and 32 filler items) and timed on how long it took them to name the depicted item.
The researchers results reflected no significant difference in production of irregular verb forms, inconsistant regulars, over-regularization errors, regularized, or irregularized errors. The only noteworthy difference was in production of consistant regular past tenses, for which TS subjects showed a nearly-significant deficit. With respect to time, the TS subjects were significantly faster than the controls on consistent regulars, over-regularization errors, and regularized responses to novel verbs, but not significantly faster on irregulars, inconsistent regulars, and irregularized responses.
In the naming task, TS subjects did not differ from the control group for naming of either type of object and there was no within-group difference between the types of items, either. TS subjects responded significantly faster on manipulated objects, but not on non-manipulated objects.
The fact that a difference of time, but not of accuracy was found set the researchers to figuring out why. Typical confounds were quickly eliminated by research design. One could quickly argue that this supports a single-mechanism model of language (only uses declarative memory). However, the word traits that generally support a single-mechanism model were also controlled for. These models also generally explain accuracy, which did not significantly vary. The results support a conclusion that language production depends in part on procedural memory and that the abnormalities in procedural memory cause faster-than-normal responses in TS subjects. The researchers then discuss language processes and trends that could result in significantly faster response times. They then assert that these findings support that the rapid tics and vocalizations are merely a visible indicator of the fact that many things are sped up, including cognitive processes.
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18 comments:
I have always viewed Tourette's Syndrome as a disorder that mainly presented itself in different tics like shouting out random words or making certain movements over and over again. Until this article, I was unaware that Tourette's was a disorder that affected the speed of processing what certain items are. I was not surprised to learn that Tourette's did not affect the accuracy of grammar. I find it interesting that researchers even conducted these experiments since Tourette's Syndrome has never seemed like a learning disorder.
As a mother of a 13 year old son with TS this study did not tell me anything I didn't already know. Nic was diagnosed with Motor Tics at the age of 6 and already showed signs of learning disabilities typically associated with TS. He also suffers from ADD which further complicates his learning process. I think TS should be something every teacher should have to have some background and basic education on in order to teach in a classroom.
Prior to this article and the movie we watched last week, I guess I really didn't understand how awful it must be to live with this disorder. Growing up I knew a kid who had TS but his signs were nothing compared to the children in the movie. In terms of what this article presents, I found it extremely interesting that a child with TS has a difficult time identifying and processing certain things. Overall I would say that my eyes have been opened wide to the seriousness of tourette's syndrome. Furthermore, I would 100% agree with what Pamela said about teachers; that they should have some background about the disorder in case they ever encounter a student with TS. Also, as a side note, I think that anyone who makes fun of or tries to belittle a child who has TS is a coward. I know that some of the kids who had TS in the movie we watched said they were picked on all the time at school. To me that is wrong.
I never really had much exposure to Tourette’s syndrome. After reading the article plus the comment above and as a future teacher I do not feel like I’ve had enough exposure to this syndrome. I have taken the introductory level special education class but this was not covered in the course, it was barely mentioned. I strongly feel that a little more time should be spent on this topic. I found this article very interesting. I have never really thought about Tourette’s syndrome as a learning disability of students because so often, especially in education courses, when learning disabilities are brought up teachers always seem to focus on ADD or ADHD. I do feel that more attention should be given to teaching, teachers about this syndrome.
Like most of the others who have commented, I really have not had much experience with anyone with Tourette's. I would love to know more about it and how to help those who have it since I will probably encounter a student with Tourette's someday. Until recently, I had always seen Tourette's portrayed as people being unable to control their speech, usually swearing or saying something really obscene. Now, it is obvious that Tourette's goes so far beyond that, and I feel bad that I never took the time to learn more about it.
I have not ever been around anyone with TS, so I don't know much about it. I was like some of the others and thought that TS was when people shouted obscene things. I would love to know more about TS because I am sure I will have a student in a class one day. I want to be able to help him/her in every way possible to make their learning comfortable.
I have never met anyone with TS (to my knowledge), but I am not surprised that the impression of it I got from the mainstream media is misleading and insulting. I knew there was more to it than yelling out curse words, but that is the joke that gets told over and over.
This research is interesting; it is good to know that accuracy in grammar might not be an overriding issue. I wonder more about the effect TS has in relation to student focus. In the video we watched in class, the child who had to blink constantly expressed difficulty in reading. All of them expressed difficulty with their peers. There is no way that doesn't affect the quality of their education.
Though TS can impede learning, I'm still not entirely sure it can be classified as a learning disorder. Much like ADHD, TS is a disorder that can be considered a behavioral or neurological problem. And while this will effect learning invariably, to view the disorder as this is somewhat strange, and doesn't really address the actual problem presented by TS. It's kind of like viewing a hurricane as a satellite tv disruptor. This is an effect of a hurricane, but it's not the primary problem that needs evaluation.
I never realized that Tourette's Syndrome was anything more than people having different tics. The article open my eyes about how it effects their speech and learning as well. This gives me a completely different view of this disorder. I have to say that I agree with Pamela's comment about how teachers should have some sort of background in TS to teach children with this disorder.
I haven't had much experience with TS, and until this unit, I wasn't all that knowledgable about it. I went to school with a guy who apparently has it, though I would have never known it if someone who had known him as a child had not told me. He, like the student in the clip we viewed in class, can control his disorder (to an extent) now. I definitely have a more defined respect for him.
As a future educator, I cannot imagine going into a classroom uninformed about not only TS, but other disorders as well.
I had no idea that Tourett'e affected mental processing. I only associated it with it's visible symptoms. I think its important that people know more about this disorder, especially people who plan to teach. I agree that teachers should know how to deal with this disorder and should be capable of dealing with Tourette's in their classrooms.
I have a family member who was diagnosed with a tic early in her life. Her tic is very minor. She constantly feels the need to blink. Until reading this article I was unaware that this was a form of Tourette Syndrome. I have never been in contact with someone who has a verbal tic. I have the tendency to laugh at things I am not used to. This is something that I would need to work on if I were a teacher because I might offend a student with this disorder if I laughed at one of their outburst.
I didn't really know anything about TS or children with it. I do think however that all people who are working with children in a public setting should have a background knowledge of it. But... I also want to say that no two kids are alike and no matter how much you learn you still have to remember that you can't generalize children or throw them into a group based on one thing. They are individuals and we have to learn what each child needs personally.
Tourette's Syndrome is a disorder that I'm not familiar with. I have never known anyone that had this disorder. I didn't realize until the video and this article that Tourette's can show itself in several different ways. I think that there is a common misconception about Tourette's and the effects is has on people's lives.
This was very interesting, having never been around a person with TS it explains a lot compared to what the media shows with all the tics being swears and vulgar words. I knew that wasn't all true, because I remember seeing an news program about the tics that people with TS have. The article and Creighton's post were very helpful in understanding the true problems with TS, and how things seem to very sped up.
I've never really been around anyone with Tourette's Syndrome. I realize now how awful it must truly be to not be able to control all of your body movements. The media causes people to think its a only a problem with cursing which is certainly not always the case.
Personally,Ive never had any encounter with anyone with Tourette's Syndrome. I had no idea of what Tourette's was until I saw the movie. It was very sad to see people go through something like that.As a future teacher, I believe that I should get more information on students with Tourettes', just in case I become acquainted with someone with it.
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