Tourettes or Aspergers?

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Has anyone here experienced differential diagnosis with these two categories? I know they can be comorbid, but how you can pull apart whether something is a tic or a stim?

I have no experience other than the following: When I was a kid I used to have the shugging tic (no one noticed but me, and I never told anyone.) Based on what I have read, I think separating out stims from tics is not very easy. Echolalia which I also had, is apparently also considered a tic.

So yeah, I think if your child is diagnosed as spectrum, it can be hard to figure out if he has enough non-stims/tics to qualify as Tourettes.

That said, I am not sure that in practice it matters unless the tics are so bad as to require meds. If they are stims, I think meds won't work. If they are tics, they might work, but then you have to weigh benefits/risks depending on severity.

If you provide the specific concerning behaviors it might be easier for members to offer their opinions.

Im assuming its you 9 year old son? If so just ask him if what you think is possibly a tic if he can control it...start it or stop it or if it is difficult for him to stop. Some people can stop their tics others can not but I have had a friend who told me that when he tried to stop his tic it is physically painful for him. I think the best thing to do is to film the tic and show it to your doc.

This website describes some basic differences between tics, compulsions, stereotypies (stimming), and other movements. It is still hard to tell sometimes what that repetitive movement really is.

http://www.wemove.org/tics/tic.html

Thanks for the responses and the link. Yes, it's my 9yo son. I did actually ask him about it, and he says he can stop them. He doesn't really stim much in class, he saves it for recess and other "allowable" times. I never thought they were tics, but it was brought up by someone, so I figured I should check it out. I didn't think tourette's would explain his bizarre social communications and interactions, though. I really don't see it as tourette's, asd makes so much more sense and fits more. He doesn't seem to have such major difficulties with pragmatic language (it's certainly below his intellectual level, but it's not a big deficit from "typical"), but I was reading up, and it looks like that is not always a huge thing with asperger's. More reading to do, I'm sure!