ing a child to be deliberately disruptive or 'naughty'.
The study recruited 35 young people with TS through Tourettes Action and through mainstream secondary schools in the East Midlands, West Midlands and Yorkshire.
Academics interviewed each young person, one or both of their parents and one or two members of staff from their school -- which included teachers, teaching assistants and Special Educational Needs Coordinators (SENCOs).
They were asked to talk in detail about how having Tourette syndrome affects them in school, including their classwork, behavior and relationships with others.
The three challenges more frequently reported by the young people were problems concentrating in class, unhelpful responses by school staff and teasing and bullying by other students, such as name-calling and mimicking tics.
Some also reported that homework, examinations, writing, anxiety and managing anger were additional challenges for them. For example, severe movement tics involving the hands can cause difficulties with completing homework and with handwriting. Vocal tics, such as making sounds or saying words out loud could sometimes attract unhelpful responses from school staff, such as being told off.
The young people reported significantly more victimization than normal but relatively few staff were aware that their students were being teased or bullied.
The results of the study have been used to devise a new training package for secondary schools, which covers the basics of TS, its symptoms and how it's diagnosed as well as common misconceptions -- for example TS does not affect IQ and is not a learning disability but can be a barrier to learning.
It goes on to explore the issue of tics and outlines the social, emotional and economic impact of TS and the challenges facing those with the condition. Quotes given by the young people in the study are used to illustrate what it is like to have Tourette Syndrome in school and to help staff to better understand the day-to-day reality of the condition.
Most crucially it also offers practical guidance to staff on supporting pupils including better communication with pupils and parents, greater recognition and respect for the management strategies that pupils use to control their condition and greater awareness of when teasing and bullying may be taking place.
In addition, it also advises not to punish pupils for behavior which they cannot help.
The academics have delivered the training package to around 80 school staff to-date and are currently recruiting more schools interested in taking advantage of the resource.
It will also be used by Tourettes Action to update the information materials on their website which are aimed at children, their families and their teaching staff.
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