For quite some time I've suspected my 8 year old has a form of OCD. The school reports behavior issues and has since Kindergarten wanted to slap a label on him as being EBD we've fought this for many reasons. He has his good days, and has a lot more bad, sadly. It's not for lack of parenting and teaching him right and wrong. It seems that's all we ever do anymore.
Last night we got a form that this school (his third, now) wants to access him for placement in special ed for disorders. This is something we are against for many reasons, so we are pretty worried now what will happen as the form says they can hold a due process hearing even after you say NO to basically FORCE you to have it done. Which will happen over my dead body, since that will make him get picked on and likely result in medication with anti depressants which we won't allow.
However, the OCD issue I think is right and he does have it (which is not something the school is looking to identify) Last night he got to bed on time, which isn't always the case. You know how kids are stalling and all. Anyway, he proceeds to come down 5 times through the night asking if this thing and that thing if touched will hurt him. (Hurt as in germs) We say no and he goes up until a few mins later and he's got another question. Then there was one about a fire fear, too. With an item that's not even plugged in.
He has massive germ issues and they are really causing issues for us and him, though he doesn't see it that way. This morning he wasted time washing a cup out (again) and then SCREAMED because there were soap bubbles in the sink and he REFUSED to brush until they were gone. Well, this was 2 minutes before we had to leave the house, so I told him he's gotta brush anyway and he just goes WILD. I said it's soap. It's clean. It's not going to hurt you OR your brush we gotta go or we have to walk! (It's a 5-block walk) He wouldn't move past it until I was forced to yell to get him to get past it. As a result he wasted all his playing and relaxing time before school with this behavior.
Then on the way to the bus he's holding saliva in his mouth again wanting to spit it out. (He will come home with boogers and spit on his shirts and that's ok for his germ fear, but to put them in a tissue or to swallow the saliva is forbidden.) I had to force him to swallow it to PROVE to him that he's not going to be hurt by it. He said there were "Weird flavors" in his mouth and he didn't want to swallow it for that reason.
He washes his hands excessively. Last night he was washing them and went to wash a second time right after. Some times he comes out of bathroom with RED hands because he thinks he needs very hot water to cleanse them. They tend to crack and bleed, too when the weather is cold and I think his washing has a lot to do with it.
Walking by houses with chipped paint causes him to seal his mouth shut tight and refuse to talk because he thinks lead paint will get in his mouth (not even knowing if it IS lead paint) DRIVING by a fence with chipped paint results in similar issues most times. Some days he'll say he got past it and he's normal. Then it starts right back up again soon after.
From what I'm able to tell he has three OCD areas: Germs, Fire fears (including unplugged objects) and perfection.
He also worries excessively about tornadoes and thunderstorms, which my mom blames on me because when we lived in a mobile home we'd evacuate when the sirens sounded, which is what they said to do on the weather reports. It's not our idea, it's general safety for those that live in those kinds of homes. Now we live in a regular home with a cellar we can go in if needed during sirens, but he's still not really any calmer when he knows there are storms in the forecast.
In school I get reports that he erases things, rewrites the same and repeats. This I think is his perfection issue as well. Today I went online to look at remedies to cure it that do not require medicines we are against and I found this page: http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/emotion/ocd.html
Sarah sounds a lot like my son, sadly. I just don't know what to do because I won't allow antidepressants into his system for numerous reasons. Are there other ways to help him that are NON medicinal? What have you done with your OCD child to help?
Last night we got a form that this school (his third, now) wants to access him for placement in special ed for disorders. This is something we are against for many reasons, so we are pretty worried now what will happen as the form says they can hold a due process hearing even after you say NO to basically FORCE you to have it done. Which will happen over my dead body, since that will make him get picked on and likely result in medication with anti depressants which we won't allow.
However, the OCD issue I think is right and he does have it (which is not something the school is looking to identify) Last night he got to bed on time, which isn't always the case. You know how kids are stalling and all. Anyway, he proceeds to come down 5 times through the night asking if this thing and that thing if touched will hurt him. (Hurt as in germs) We say no and he goes up until a few mins later and he's got another question. Then there was one about a fire fear, too. With an item that's not even plugged in.
He has massive germ issues and they are really causing issues for us and him, though he doesn't see it that way. This morning he wasted time washing a cup out (again) and then SCREAMED because there were soap bubbles in the sink and he REFUSED to brush until they were gone. Well, this was 2 minutes before we had to leave the house, so I told him he's gotta brush anyway and he just goes WILD. I said it's soap. It's clean. It's not going to hurt you OR your brush we gotta go or we have to walk! (It's a 5-block walk) He wouldn't move past it until I was forced to yell to get him to get past it. As a result he wasted all his playing and relaxing time before school with this behavior.
Then on the way to the bus he's holding saliva in his mouth again wanting to spit it out. (He will come home with boogers and spit on his shirts and that's ok for his germ fear, but to put them in a tissue or to swallow the saliva is forbidden.) I had to force him to swallow it to PROVE to him that he's not going to be hurt by it. He said there were "Weird flavors" in his mouth and he didn't want to swallow it for that reason.
He washes his hands excessively. Last night he was washing them and went to wash a second time right after. Some times he comes out of bathroom with RED hands because he thinks he needs very hot water to cleanse them. They tend to crack and bleed, too when the weather is cold and I think his washing has a lot to do with it.
Walking by houses with chipped paint causes him to seal his mouth shut tight and refuse to talk because he thinks lead paint will get in his mouth (not even knowing if it IS lead paint) DRIVING by a fence with chipped paint results in similar issues most times. Some days he'll say he got past it and he's normal. Then it starts right back up again soon after.
From what I'm able to tell he has three OCD areas: Germs, Fire fears (including unplugged objects) and perfection.
He also worries excessively about tornadoes and thunderstorms, which my mom blames on me because when we lived in a mobile home we'd evacuate when the sirens sounded, which is what they said to do on the weather reports. It's not our idea, it's general safety for those that live in those kinds of homes. Now we live in a regular home with a cellar we can go in if needed during sirens, but he's still not really any calmer when he knows there are storms in the forecast.
In school I get reports that he erases things, rewrites the same and repeats. This I think is his perfection issue as well. Today I went online to look at remedies to cure it that do not require medicines we are against and I found this page: http://kidshealth.org/kid/feeling/emotion/ocd.html
Sarah sounds a lot like my son, sadly. I just don't know what to do because I won't allow antidepressants into his system for numerous reasons. Are there other ways to help him that are NON medicinal? What have you done with your OCD child to help?