my 12 year old brother has recently developed a tic. he is blinking excessively, but more concerning to me is that he has started repetitively jerking his head toward one side. he does it at all times, playing computer games, playing sport, sitting at the dinner table, talking etc.

he has just begun his first year of highschool and i am worried about how it will affect him socially. normally he is a very outgoing, charismatic kid.

our mother recently remarried and we have just moved into a new house with her partner and his son, so perhaps it is from the big changes?

i've been reading a lot about tics on the web but i wanted to hear anyone's personal experiences, either with their children or themselves. also, can you recommend any ways to treat it or help him with it? i'm not sure whether to ignore it or try to get him to stop it. thanks.

he is probably looking at tourettes syndrome. This is something that has become a much bigger problem over the last decade or so.

There are a lot of causes for tics besides Tourette's and Wilson's disease. You're right that it could simply be stress related. Also, tics have manifested following head injury, viral infection, psychiatric medication, could be part of obsessive compulsive disorder, following bacterial infections and as part of a Parkinson’s disease type disorder. Have him see the doctor for evaulation.

I remember seeing a show on Oprah all about Tourette's syndrome, and the kids on that show had these tics with their heads, and this thread reminded me of that show. Perhaps your brother could be suffering from Tourette's?
Still, the possibility of it being stress related is also a very huge possibility, and it could have been caused with all the big changes in his life.
Or it could also be just a simple mannerism. I know a lot of kids with these weird mannerisms, they usually grow out of it after a while but usually it takes years before the mannerism completely goes away and stays away.