When the New Jersey Center for Tourette Syndrome & Associated Disorders (NJCTS) launched TSParentsOnline, an Internet blog resource for parents of children with TS, on Nov. 7, 2011, it had no idea the venture would take off so quickly.
But two months and nearly 10,000 hits later, TSParentsOnline – which can be found by visiting https://njcts.org/tsparents – continues to grow into one of the Internet’s most sought-after blogs and resources for parents of children with TS, a neurological condition that affects as many as 1 in 100 people.
TSParentsOnline boasts new content on a daily basis from nearly two dozen contributors in countries such as the United States, Canada, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, France, South Korea, New Zealand and Indonesia.
Topics include initial diagnosis of TS; how to deal with Tourette Syndrome in school; homeschooling a Tourette child; finding hope for the future; and talking to others about the condition. There also are links to other TS stories and resources available through NJCTS.
One of the most popular recent entries was TSParentsOnline New Year’s Resolution query – “What are some ways you hope 2012 will be a different, better year for the TS community?” Here is one of several responses TSParentsOnline received, from regular contributor SarahG:
I would like to see research specifically targeting Tourette’s – no more, “Well, this drug worked for schizophrenia/sleepwalking/athlete’s foot. Let’s throw it at Tourette’s and see what happens.
Other parents echoed and expanded upon the sentiments of SarahG. Read more of her New Year’s Tourette Resolutions and add your own by e-mailing parents@njcts.org or by visiting https://njcts.org/tsparents/new-years-resolutions-for-tourette-syndrome.