A school-based application of modified habit reversal for Tourette syndrome via a translator: a case study.

One middle-school boy with Tourette syndrome kept jerking his head and shrugging in class.

Gilman et al. (2005) taught him a short version of habit reversal: feel the urge, do a short competing move, and get quick teacher praise.

The coach spoke English, the boy spoke Spanish, so the coach taught through a school translator. Sessions happened in the hallway for 5–10 min, then staff used the same steps inside class.

Head jerks dropped from about 30 per hour to almost zero after the first week.

Shrugs stayed low for the rest of the school year and were still low two follow-ups later.

The translator needed only one afternoon of training to run the steps correctly.

Ozdemir (2008) and Kim et al. (2014) also cut classroom disruptions with quick, tailored plans, showing one-to-one ideas travel well across diagnoses and ages.

Rabin et al. (2018) adapted PEERS for Hebrew teens and still saw gains; Rich adds proof that an interpreter can carry habit reversal without hurting results.

Ferguson et al. (2022) used telehealth to reach families; Rich used a live translator to reach a student—both stretch ABA past the English-speaking clinic wall.

You can run habit reversal in school with almost no gear: a coach, a translator, and a timer. Train the aide for one afternoon, practice in the hall, then cue the child inside class. If tics drop here, try the same lean setup for hair-pulling, skin-picking, or vocal outbursts in any bilingual student on your caseload.