Hi Tessa,
I know nothing much about this and I haven't read read the full text of the article so can't really comment too much without having done that. I remember posting this one to see what others had to say at the time. No one responded when I posted it and I was a little surprised considering the content.

Anyway, I loathe the term "Habit Reversal Training" because of the implication that tics are habits. They did mention nail-biting and hair pulling specifically in there somewhere though, so that's a whole different ballgame to me. More of a compulsion thing. I can understand using CBT to help with OC behaviours, but not with tics in little children.

It does say in the abstract "Oppositional, defiant, and disruptive behaviors are common in clinical samples of children with tic disorders". So I would guess that the children had other conditions besides their tics. Somewhere in the news article it mentions... "Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder" plus some 83% were taking medications. Don't know what for or which type.