Neuropsychological functioning in gilles de la Tourette's syndrome

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Abstract
Thirteen diagnosed Tourette Syndrome males, aged 10 through 13 years, were administered the Halstead Neuropsychological Test Battery for Children, the WISC-R, the Wide Range Achievement Test, and the Bender-Gestalt Test. The norms utilized for the Halstead Neuropsychological Battery for Children were those of Selz and Reitan (1979). When such criteria were employed, overall level of performance was normal for 11 of the 13 subjects. However, analysis of the results of the additional tests administered demonstrated consistent impairment of circumscribed functions. Significant impairment in visual-motor copying was noted on the Bender-Gestalt Test and on the Coding subtest of the WISC-R. Impairment in arithmetic ability emerged only when a visual-motor component was added to the task. This relevant and interesting cluster of deficits is considered to represent a dysfunction of nonconstructional visuopractic abilities.