Show Daily Health Service f Habit Spasms of Child Often ten Due to Nerve Strain By DR MORRIS FISHBEIN Habit spasms often appear in children children chil chil- dren both boys and girls between 6 years of age and adolescence They appear most often in children who have been ill or who have been badly nourished or who suffer mer greatly with nerve strain due to mental difficulties ties Ies at home 4 j I The most common forms of habit spasms are arc those affecting the face or Cr head with blinking of the eyes eye udden shaking of the head or 01 shrugging shrugging shrug shrug- ging of the shoulders Sometimes there is also a jerking of ot the hands handsor or a motion directed by the hand toward the face or a repeated clearing clear ing ng o of the throat 0 0 The condition called habit spasm Is b n not 4 to be confused with chorea a rheumatic disorder The movements of habit spasms differ from those of chorea by being quicker and also alo by being repeated continually In the same way The movements of chorea are irregular and vary constantly A child with chorea chore Is is' likely td have worse movements when being watched by adults whereas the child with habit spasms is likely is-likely likely to discontinue discontinue discon discon- the th movements The child chUd with this this' bad habit is likely to have also excitability and obstinacy to sleep badly and to suffer with headaches Because of of the imitative nature of children such habit spasms s sometimes some me- me times dev develop lop almost like an epi epidemic pl pI demic in schools I 0 ct As such conditions are largely mental mental men men- tal treatment must be applied to the mental side It Is important to find out the difficulties dif dU in the home that are associated asso asso- dated with the trouble and to regulate regu late these All AH sources of ot distress such as as fear of punishment must be he stopped Such children do well with encouragement en and pleasantness It is not well to find fault constantly with the child beca because c this keeps his hi attention attention at at- fixed on his habit If the child Is badly nourished or otherwise ill It should obviously be removed from school school- and given an opportunity to recover r. r Plenty of sleep is of ot the greatest Importance and also plenty of good food |