Tourette’s Syndrome

This study examined children with Tourette’s to evaluate their abilities with grammar. What was found was that those with TS were actual faster than others when determining the past tense of verbs with a normalized suffix, i.e., -ed. However, when faced with non-standard past tense verse, e.g. spring-sprang, they were slower - but not slower than others, just slower than themselves.

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.

The article/study accurately discusses many aspects of TS and is worth reading. Nevertheless, to characterize someone with TS who does some things faster than others but does other things the same as others and claims that it is a developmental disorder is to wrongly characterize and even marginalize someone with TS.

Overall, the study is excellent. The reporting of it badly mis-classifies Tourette’s sufferers, ironically because of poor writing and grammar.