Behavioral Therapy for Tourette Syndrome

Summary

This research is being done to determine whether a home-based behavioral therapy can be successfully used to treat tics in children with Tourette syndrome (TS). Behavioral therapy administered by a trained therapist has been shown to be helpful in reducing tics in children with Tourette syndrome. In this study, the investigators want to determine whether an instructional video can provide parents of children with TS with the tools necessary to successfully use behavioral therapy at home. The investigators also want to determine the effectiveness of home-based behavioral therapy as compared to improvement achieved when the therapy is provided by a trained therapist.

Conditions

• Tourette Syndrome

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Therapist-directed Behavioral Therapy

The therapist-directed behavioral therapy group will have their first appointment scheduled within one week of assignment. In the Therapist-directed face-face training program, training instructions will be manualized, in order to match the parent instructional guidelines provided in the home-based DVD. This manual will include the specific psychoeducation, awareness training, competing response training, differential reinforcement of incompatible behaviors, and other adaptive behavioral instructions contained within the home-based DVD. The therapist will match the sequence and required components within the behavior-based training DVD. Face-face training will be administered across 10 weeks (6 weekly sessions followed by 2 bi-weekly sessions).

BEHAVIORAL

Home-based DVD Therapy

In order to mimic the slight delay between randomization and start of the therapist-directed treatment, those assigned to the Home-based DVD cohort will have the DVD and training materials mailed to their homes. Parents will also receive a written instructional form and a log sheet for tracking the use of the DVD and the time and duration of practice sessions. Any questions regarding patient care and treatment will be directed to Dr. Singer.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Hugo W. Moser Research Institute at Kennedy Krieger, Inc.

  collaborator OTHER

• Tourette Association of America

  collaborator OTHER

• Johns Hopkins University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Harvey Singer, MD · Johns Hopkins University

Study Design

Allocation

NA

Purpose

TREATMENT

Masking

NONE

Model

SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age

7 Years

Max Age

13 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2017-03-21

Primary Completion

2019-03-21

Completion

2019-03-21

Countries

• United States

Study Locations