ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Yale Global Tic Severity Scale

The Yale Global Tic Severity Scale is a way that doctors measure how bad a person's tics are. Tics are movements or sounds that someone makes that they can't control, sort of like sneezing or blinking. Sometimes tics can happen a lot or be really strong and it can be hard for someone to do things if their tics are really bad.

So, the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale is like a big chart that doctors use to look at all the different tics a person might have and how often and how strong they are. The chart has different levels, from 0 to 50, and the doctor looks at where the person's tics fall on the chart to figure out how bad they are.

It can be a little bit like if you were trying to measure how far you can throw a ball. Someone might say, "Okay, let's look at how far you threw the ball and where it landed. Was it near the line for 0, or closer to the line for 50?" That's kind of what the doctor is doing with the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale.

By using this chart, doctors can know more about how much someone is struggling with their tics and figure out the best way to help them feel better. It's kind of like when you're playing a game and you want to know how well you're doing. The chart helps the doctor and the patient know how well they're doing with managing their tics.