Teaching middle and high school students about Tourette Syndrome

Greenhaven Press publishes a series of books for students called Perspectives On Diseases & Disorders. They recently published a volume on Tourette Syndrome:

This volume includes an overview of tourette syndrome, including diagnosis; symptoms; and treatment, a look at controversies surrounding tourette syndrome, focusing on effectiveness of various treatment including diet, environmental factors, and deep brain stimulation, and personal stories of people living with tourette syndrome such a student that faces bullies, a woman who describes in detail the ‘anatomy of a tic’, and a concert pianist living with tourette syndrome.

One of the chapters in the book is based on material I had prepared for this web site.

If you are looking to incorporate lessons on various disorders into your curriculum, you may want to check out their offerings in this series and the table of contents for each.

Make More Effective Use of Praise

Back in 2002, I wrote up some simple pointers for educators and parents in “Hone Your Skills When Using Reinforcers and Reprimands,” an article you can find in the Behavior section of this site. Over a decade later, new research suggests that it is time to refine or tweak that advice.  It seems that praising the child instead of the behavior may actually backfire for students with low self-esteem. You can read more about the new research and its implications for us in the Behavior section, here.