In Phase I of this SBIR project, Danya International, Inc., in collaboration with a team of experts, developed a video-based intervention package to educate school-aged children about Tourette Syndrome (TS). This intervention package, entitled """"""""You've Got A Friend,"""""""" provides information, prosocial messages, and interactional strategies to foster acceptance and social integration for children with TS. Building on the success of Phase I, Phase II will include three tasks that will expand the intervention package. First, we will develop a video for older children with Tourette Syndrome. The video will be developed in collaboration with a team of teens with TS who will provide extensive input on the content, design and presentation of the video. Second, a supporting website for the intervention package will be programmed, which will contain information for teachers, parents and children with and without TS. Finally, a full-scale, nationwide empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of the intervention package will be conducted. This evaluation will explore whether or not presentation of the video intervention in the classroom of a child with TS has an impact on the social adjustment of that child, as reported through three informants: the teacher, the parent and the child himself. All of the intervention materials will also be translated, filmed, and printed in Spanish.
The TIC intervention package will be marketed as an educational tool to newly diagnosed children, their teachers, peers, and parents.
