A new, 36-minute audio presentation with accompanying slides is now available from the National TSA, offering information and guidance to parents and teachers who are considering IEPs (Individualized Education Plans) and/or 504 Plans for students with Tourette Syndrome and related disorders.

For more information on prior installments in this presentation series, check here and here.

Because administrators play a central role in defining the way their schools help children with Tourette Syndrome (TS) learn and thrive among their peers, the national TSA has added a new audio presentation to its Web site: “The School Administrator: What You Need to Know About Tourette Syndrome.”

This presentation offers information about what TS is and isn’t; how to recognize and manage the symptoms of TS; and what entitlements are involved with TS students. While this presentation is primarily directed to school administrators, it might also be of interest to educators, clinicians, families, and caregivers.

The material in this new resource is presented by Ellen Meyers, M.S., M.Ed., with the National TSA Education Committee. Ms. Meyers is a former high school assistant principal and district-wide director of special education. Her son has TS.

You can listen to the audio presentation from the Web or save the file to play on an iPod or other MP3 player. Also available for free download — from the same Web page as the audio presentation — is a PDF of the TSA publication, “The School Administrator: Ten Things to Know about Tourette Syndrome.”

Earlier this month, TSA conducted a teleconference on easing back-to-school transitions for students with Tourette Syndrome. The audio was recorded and is now available to TS families nationwide.

This 53-minute presentation focuses its information on families and caregivers of TS students who are attending a new school, new grade, or have a new teacher.

The original teleconference was presented by TSA Education Specialist Kathy Giordano to an audience of concerned parents and caregivers. Kathy regularly talks with groups of teachers, special educators, clinicians, school-based staff, allied professionals and families across the country about Tourette Syndrome and related disorders; positive and proactive educational and behavioral techniques; and “Functional Behavioral Assessments.” She is the mother of three adult children, her youngest diagnosed at the age of 5 with severe Tourette Syndrome with ADD, OCD and ODD.

Kathy has a background teaching English in grades 7-12 and has worked to assist school districts as a behavior consultant since 1998. She and her son have appeared on the PBS Series “Nova,” in a segment about Tourette Syndrome.