Impact of Tourette Syndrome on School Measures in a Nationally Representative Sample.
Angelika H Claussen, Rebecca H Bitsko, Joseph R Holbrook and 2 others
PMID 29432328WHAT IT FOUND
Children with Tourette syndrome were more likely to have an individual education plan, be contacted about school problems, and not complete homework.
Grade repetition and absences did not show a clear link. Co-occurring behavior and learning conditions were linked to school problems.
Key findings
01After demographic adjustment, children currently with Tourette syndrome were more likely than children who never had it to have an individual education plan, have a parent contacted about school problems, and not complete homework.
02After co-occurring conditions were taken into account, only having an individual education plan remained linked to current Tourette syndrome.
03Children with Tourette syndrome plus both mental, emotional, or behavioral conditions and learning or language conditions had the highest rates of individual education plans and school problems, and were also more likely to not complete homework.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study used parent-reported telephone survey data, so diagnoses, symptom severity, and school events were not verified by records or direct examination. Only known Tourette syndrome diagnoses were captured, so children with undiagnosed Tourette syndrome or other tic disorders were not included. Tourette syndrome severity was based on parent perception, not a validated severity measure. The school accommodation question captured only individual education plans, not 504 plans or other supports. The survey response rate was low, and some estimates were unstable because cell sizes were small. There were too few children with Tourette syndrome alone, or Tourette syndrome with learning/language conditions but no mental/emotional/behavioral conditions, to understand the effect of Tourette syndrome by itself. The study compared children at survey time and did not follow them over time, so it cannot show that Tourette syndrome caused school problems. Question wording changed slightly between survey rounds, and differences among racial and ethnic groups could not be examined.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflict of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that Tourette syndrome itself caused the school problems. This was a parent-reported survey, not a treatment study, and co-occurring behavior and learning conditions were linked to many school outcomes.