Tics tend to be behavioral tendencies that run in families and can consist of
simple quick motor behaviors like eye blinking or head jerking that look like habits or even
more complex behaviors like hand gestures or brief noises like grunts or even saying
repetitious words without intention. These behaviors tend to get better on their own
during adolescence and have no health consequence. If they are not having a social
consequence like being teased there is no need to do anything about it. They
tend to be worse with fatique, when anxious, or when the child is simply bored.
Children can sometimes momentarily suppress these behaviors on their own briefly.
It is like an itchy rash for which scratching can be suppressed but tension builds
up until the behaviors emerge.
