03/08/2026
āØExams & Touretteās āØ
š„Understanding Makes All the Differenceš„
Exam season brings pressure for every student but for a young person living with Touretteās Syndrome, that pressure can have a much greater impact than many people realise.
Touretteās is a neurological condition that causes involuntary movements and sounds called tics. Tics naturally increase with stress, anxiety, fatigue and heightened emotion. Because of this, exam environments which are often silent, structured and high pressure can unintentionally intensify symptoms.
Imagine trying to focus on an exam paper while:
ā¢ Your body is moving in ways you canāt control
ā¢ Youāre experiencing painful or repetitive motor tics
ā¢ Your hand or arm tics are affecting your writing
ā¢ Youāre trying to manage vocal tics in a quiet room
ā¢ Youāre worried about distracting others
ā¢ Youāre using huge amounts of energy just to suppress
Many students try to hold their tics in during exams so they donāt stand out. But suppressing tics is exhausting. It builds internal pressure and often leads to stronger tics or severe tic attacks once the exam is over.
While they are trying to suppress their tics, their concentration is not fully on the exam paper. A huge part of their focus is on controlling their body, managing the urge to tic, and worrying about those around them. This divided attention can leave them mentally drained, slower to process information, and unable to demonstrate their true ability not because they donāt know the work, but because their energy is being used elsewhere.
By the end of the day, they may be completely exhausted physically and emotionally.
This is why understanding and reasonable adjustments are so important.
Supports such as:
ā¢ A separate room
ā¢ Rest breaks
ā¢ Extra time
ā¢ A smaller supervised setting
ā¢ A scribe where motor or writing tics make it difficult to physically complete the paper
ā¢ Staff awareness and understanding are not about giving an advantage.
They are about creating fairness. For some students, a scribe can make the difference between being assessed on their knowledge and being limited by the physical impact of their tics.
It allows their ideas and learning to come through clearly, without the barrier of involuntary movements.
Sometimes it simply comes down to awareness truly understanding how Touretteās presents, especially under pressure. When that understanding is in place, small adjustments can make a life changing difference.
Exam season should reflect a studentās ability and learning not how well they can suppress a neurological condition.
With compassion, awareness and the right supports in place, students with Touretteās can thrive.
