A Premiere Radio spokesperson posted an apology, allegedly on her behalf to an internet bulletin board. The apology has not been authenticated. TS is a neurological condition of multiple, changing, repetitive, involuntary motor and vocal tics. Its most typical onset is at the age of five, with increasing symptoms between the ages of 8 and 12, and a high likelihood of remission or improvement of tics after adolescence. There is no medication targeted specifically at treating TS or that works universally to control it, and the side effects of the available drugs are often worse than the tics.
Children have limited success in learning to manage their tics through modifications.
Hence, children at their most vulnerable developmental stages are often passing through their most difficult years of coping with a baffling and stigmatizing condition, complicated by myth, misperception, and judgment from an uncomprehending society. Negotiating childhood can be very difficult for children with TS, although the majority of persons with TS go on to lead normal and productive lives. Dr Laura s radio show on May 22 nd added to the already heavy burden carried by children with these involuntary movements and vocalizations. A very small percentage of persons with TS have coprolalia the involuntary utterances of socially inappropriate phrases. While that may reflect her lack of understanding of the condition, whatever his tics are, they are involuntary and warrant acceptance from his immediate family EVEN IF he has coprolalia.