Teaches awareness of tics.
That is, recognizing when tics will occur and what tics are about to occur.
Practices preëmpting tics with actions that cannot be done at the same time as the tic (competing response).
Not to be confused with cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) which is commonly used for anxiety disorders.
Includes habit reversal therapy as well as other strategies.
Identifies situations that trigger tics and how to change or avoid them.
Develops ways to prevent or cope with stressors.
Use of electrodes to alter brain activity in patients with severe tics.
Use of an oral splint that has been shown to have some beneficial effect on tics.
Stay healthy - eat and exercise well.
Build an understanding of your tics and what situations or sensations trigger them or make them worse.
Tics are characteristically predictable and different tics will often occur with noticeable patterns.
Once you understand when your tics will occur, you can find ways to avoid those situations.
For example, a common thing that people find triggers their tics is caffeine, so in this case avoiding caffeine would help.
Be patient and understanding.
Don't call attention to the tics.
Work with the student to educate peers and promote familiarity and acceptance.
Reduce potentially disruptive sensory stressors.
Allow separate testing locations.
This prevents peers from being distracted and allows the student to focus on their work instead of on trying to not be disruptive.
Use accommodation technologies.
Communication tools can be used if a student needs to be in a separate location.
Eg. video calls.
Assistive technologies may be helpful in the case of specific tics like blocking tics.
Eg. word processors or speech-to-text.
Eg. scribes.
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, May 17). Tourette syndrome treatments. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/tourette/treatments.html
Center for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, May 17). Tourette syndrome: Behavioral treatment for tics that works. https://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/tourette/features/tourettesyndromeawareness.html
Xu, W., Zhang, C., Deeb, W., Patel, B., Wu, Y., Voon, V., Okun, M. S., & Sun, B. (2020). Deep brain stimulation for Tourette's syndrome. Translational neurodegeneration, 9, 4. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40035-020-0183-7
Murakami, J., Tachibana, Y., Akiyama, S., Kato, T., Taniguchi, A., Nakajima, Y., Shimoda, M., Wake, H., Kano, Y., Takada, M., Nambu, A., & Yoshida, A. (2019). Oral splint ameliorates tic symptoms in patients with tourette syndrome. Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society, 34(10), 1577–1578. https://doi.org/10.1002/mds.27819