Presenter: Susan Conners M.Ed.
Download this webinar’s corresponding slides here.
View this webinar by clicking here
Ms. Conners gave a teacher’s perspective on what can be reasonably be done in a classroom as far as accommodations for Tourette, OCD and ADD. She gave concrete examples of situations that she has seen and techniques that have been helpful.
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Comments(6)
SueC says:
April 16, 2012 at 11:15 am?: My 7-year-old daughter with TS has difficulty with getting invited to playdates and birthday parties as she is quite impulsive and inappropriate around parents and their children, such as in girl scouts. How do I educate the parents about this disorder and how do I get them on board with including my daughter?
There are lots of very good brochures about TS that can be down loaded and shared with family, friend’s families, etc. It is my belief that education is power. On another note, is your daughter receiving social skills training at school? this is something that schools should be providing. You may want to ask for an evaluation by the school’s speech language therapist to test for social skills deficits, pragmatic language disorder.
SueC says:
April 16, 2012 at 11:16 am?: My daughter also recently was exited from her IEP. How do I get the teachers on board with understanding that TS may not affect academics, but it certainly affects her educational experience? As of now, she no longer has an IEP and it is certainly frustrating as her symptoms wax and wane. Her specialist teachers are constantly reporting bad behavior of my daughter. I have requested numerous times for a TS advocate to come to the classroom to educate and it only gets denied.
STAR 28 Exited IEP: The new IDEA when it was reauthorized in 2007 contains very specific language about teacher training and also about the fact that academic performance alone are not enough to deny a child services. They need to also look at social/emotional well-being and daily functioning. If you would like copies of these sections of IDEA, please email me at conners@roadrunner.com and I will email them to you.
SueC says:
April 16, 2012 at 11:17 am?: My 7 year old daughter would like to ask a question who was able to also watch the webinar with me. She is quite upset and frustrated with a family member that she lives with who makes fun of her TS and often will tell her to leave a room when she has loud tics. I have tried several times to educate this family member. I also noticed that this member of the family has mild tics, but denies having them.
Star 28 Family Members: This can be so frustrating to not be understood by family members. The HBO network produces a video a few years ago entitled I Have Tourettes but Tourettes Doesn’t Have Me which is an excellent way of educating family members. It’s onlt about 30 minutes and is all . kids with TS. It’s very powerful. You should be able to obtain a copy from NJCTS.
SueC says:
April 16, 2012 at 11:18 am?: How can we advocate for our children with TS to get an IEP or 504 plan, when the team constantly reiterates that his/her TS is not affecting his/her educational experience?
Advocate for our children: The new IDEA when it was reauthorized in 2007 contains very specific language about teacher training and also about the fact that academic performance alone are not enough to deny a child services. They need to also look at social/emotional well-being and daily functioning. If you would like copies of these sections of IDEA, please email me at conners@roadrunner.com and I will email them to you. There are also some very good advocacy agencies that could help you or your local TS chapter or agency. If you let me know where you are from, I could make some suggestions.
SueC says:
April 16, 2012 at 11:19 am?: Do change in seasons/allergies/asthma create tics?
Change in Seasons: Although no specific research has been done, I have worked with many. many children with TS whose symptoms seem to worsen seasonly. Some peope think that it may be allergy related but again nothing has been scientifically proven.
SueC says:
April 16, 2012 at 11:20 am?: Do you recommend the child with TS being in the classroom when their peers are being educated about TS? Particularly in 2nd or 3rd grade. Thank you
Student present at Peer Inservice: Absolutely. They will always wonder what was said if they are not there. If the peer in service is done properly, the child with TS can be incorporated into the presentation which is very empowering for the child.