What Makes Him Tic?: Parenting a Child with Tourette Syndrome

When Michele Turk’s 11-year-old son Michael was diagnosed with Tourette syndrome, she made it her mission to show him, and later others, that he was so much more than the boy who shouted obscenities hundreds of times a day. What Makes Him Tic? A Memoir of Parenting a Child with Tourette Syndrome, describes Michele’s leave-no-stone-unturned strategy to figure out what Michael needed to succeed academically, socially, and emotionally in a world where Tourette is the punchline of jokes on late-night TV and sitcoms. The memoir also provides ample reporting on Tourette, often referred to as ＂the most misunderstood well-known condition,＂ and is meant to be a roadmap and inspiration for parents, caregivers, and educators of children with Tourette and other special needs.

More than a medical story, What Makes Him Tic? is a moving portrait of a family, a marriage, and a mother coping with day-to-day life amidst the stresses of caring for a boy with a stigmatizing condition. The book is also a surprising testament to the healing power of music: the memoir takes readers to Carnegie Hall (where Turk was certain she was the only parent ever to sit in the audience and wonder whether her child would curse while singing with a youth chorus onstage). It also takes readers inside bars and music venues where Michael sang, and played drums and guitar, and ultimately, found himself, as part of the School of Rock. Finally, it takes readers inside a relationship in turmoil, as the author honestly explores the toll Michael’s struggle took on her marriage to a doctor who didn’t make time to help his son, leaving her, a woman who had doubted her abilities as a mother, to find reserves of strength she didn’t know she had.

Michele Turk has worked as a professional writer and editor for almost three decades, writing primarily about parenting, health, and education. Her work has appeared in many consumer publications and websites, among them BusinessWeek, Parents, Parenting, the Hartford Courant, Elle, USA Weekend, The Washington Post, Brain, Child, and Next Avenue.com. She has served as president of the Connecticut Press Club since 2015. Turk lives with her husband, Russ, in Cos Cob, Conn., where they raised their two children.