Our next support group meeting in the St. Louis area is set for Feb. 22. Check here for details.
New Presentation: IEP’s and 504 Plans
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.
Help National TSA Secure $1 Million
Your Facebook votes in the first round helped the National TSA place among the top 100 charities to receive $25,000.
Your votes are needed again — and this time, the organization that gets the most votes receives $1 million, with the next five vote-getters receiving $100,000.
Please vote today.
If you’re already a Facebook member, go here to vote — then scroll down to read the National TSA’s “Big Idea” for using the funds to help those affected by Tourette Syndrome across the country.
If you’re not yet a Facebook member, please join so you can vote for TSA.
Registration Open for TSA National Conference
Online registration is now open for the 2010 National TSA Conference, April 15-18, in Alexandria, Virginia.
Chapter and support group leaders and volunteers, plus people of all ages with TS and their families, are encouraged to attend.
Check the conference overview page for more information about what will be offered. Updates to conference programming will be announced over the next several weeks.
Study to Explore Association Between Tics, Urges
Faculty at the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center are conducting an Internet-based survey designed to explore the association between tics in children and the presence or absence of an urge right before the tic.
This research study has been reviewed and approved by TSA’s National Medical Advisory Board.
A parent and child (7 to 17 years old) should work together on the survey, to come up with the best answer to each question. The survey should take around half an hour to complete.
To complete the survey, check here and follow the instructions.
Next Event: Skating, Broomball at Shaw Park Ice Rink
The Greater Missouri Tourette Syndrome Association invites your family to join us at Clayton Shaw Park ice rink, from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, January 17. Details available here.
TSA Audio Presentation Focuses on School Administrators
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.”
Protecting Special-Needs Students
The Greater Missouri TSA is joining with other organizations to advocate for a change in state law that would prohibit the use of corporal punishment (spanking) on special needs students, including TS students.
This issue was brought to our attention by a Poplar Bluff family whose TS child was threatened with spanking in the sixth grade.
Missouri is one of the few remaining states that does not prohibit corporal punishment in its public schools. Instead, the state leaves the use of corporal punishment to the discretion of local school districts. However, the use of corporal punishment on special-needs students could have particularly damaging psychological effects and severely undermine educational progress for these students.
In addition to our organization, the Joshua Center for Neurological Disorders, Missouri NEA, Belle Center, and St. Louis Arc support this change in state law — and we are currently reaching out to other, similar organizations to ask for their support.
If you are affiliated with a special-needs advocacy organization, please ask them to join us in this effort. For more information, contact Missouri TSA Government Liaison Pete Abel.
Become a Fan of TSA on Facebook
If you’re on Facebook, visit the National TSA Facebook page, become a fan, and stay informed about Tourette Syndrome news, events, publications, and other updates.
Vote for TSA on Facebook
Charities that receive the most votes on Facebook have an opportunity to receive funding between $25,000 and $1 million.
If you’re already a Facebook member, go here to vote.
If you’re not yet a Facebook member, join, then vote for TSA.
Greater Missouri TSA 