OCD help

My son is 3 and currently diagnosed with high functioning autism. We were in EI from 15 months until this passed September, when he entered cpse. He's been in an inclusion room since and things have just gotten progressively worse.

His need to control everything has spun out of control, down to which side he can pull the paper towels out of when he's done using the bathroom at school. Because of this, he is constantly at odds and disruptive through out the day. The teachers are ready to pull him from the classroom and place him in a self contained room, but I don't think that is going to help bc the behavior will follow no matter where he goes.

He is not diagnosed with OCD but it was those tendencies that kept him on the spectrum. At his last psych eval, the psychiatrist even offered to lift his diagnosis of asd but I asked to keep it because of the possible OCD, which is now seemingly in full force.

My question is : if your child suffers from OCD - how do you help them? I'm looking into diet changes and holistic approaches right now. I will also ask the school again if they can call in the behavior therapist as well (they've denied me once before already).

Re: OCD help

When you say inclusion, you mean some kids are general ed and some get services? How many kids are in his class?

My twins are in a 12:1:2 classroom in CPSE (in Queens). All be kids in their rooms (2 separate rooms) get services. But if you went to the school it would look like any other preschool (all high functioning kids in their rooms).

I don't think a self-contained would be so bad (of course I would push for him to go in a 12 room with high functioning kids). The self contained are usually smaller classes so the teacher/assistant may be able to dedicate more time with him.

One little boy in one of their classes has very severe OCD. He is super bright, talks a lot, very friendly. He has a 1:1 aide in his class. Just from my observations when I am there, I have seen how she has to prepare and talk to him before they do anything. And she makes him do things outside of his comfort zone. Like she will say we are going to put the trucks in the blue bin today (when they normally go in red) and he will flip out saying no, no they go in red, etc. but they talk about it and he eventually does it (of course not without resisting). The kids in the class all know Johnny needs extra help and my son tells me Johnny had a meltdown today but he is ok. I say good, did you help him and he says yes.

Sorry for the long-winded answer. My point is why don't you check out a self-contained class and speak to his potential new teacher before making a decision? Good luck.

OCD help

He's in an inclusion room, half typical, half children with varying services. It's currently a 15:1:2.

I spoke with the main teacher today and we are going to speak with the director this afternoon together. We already do the examples you gave at home, but I have no idea if they're being implemented while he's in the classroom. Not saying he's perfect at home, but we don't let his ocds rule him. If we see something starting, we nip it as fast as possible.

I was just wondering what else others have tried to help with the OCDs. Changing his classroom, even to one that is smaller, isn't going to stop his problem. If that's what needs to happen down the road, I'll approach it then, you know? I appreciate the reply though! id love to get him a seit just to maybe help regulate him again, but my district doesn't like approving those so much.

Thank you again!

Message edited 1/14/2016 9:22:41 AM.

OCD help

My daughter had/has severe OCD. Ages 3 - 5 were unbearable and honestly it was hard to manage. What we did was slowly change things into her routine and would keep switching it up. Not all her routines but we'd pick one like bedtime. Getting ready for bed she would have to go upstairs and count the stairs, stop at the light and turn it on, go into the draw and find her nightgown folded (had to be folded), then she would brush her teeth, then go through some verbal chatter with us that we needed to answer the same way every night or it was a complete meltdown. There was alot more to the routine but you get the jist. One night we would switch having her brush her teeth first and then put on the nightgown, then the next night switch it back. It was literally exhausting for me and not a great time for us. The smaller self contained class did help because they can do these same things at school and start to desensitize. One day she counted her steps wrong and kept going up and down the stairs counting and crying and screaming at least 50 times and wouldn't stop. I literally had to rip a closet door off the hinges and block the stairs so she could not go up anymore. It was not a good night to say the least.

The silver lining is that once she turned 5, she was put on prozac and 95% of the OCD disapeared. She has many other issues but the OCD was gone and it make us all MUCH happier.

Re: OCD help

Re: OCD help

Just like most, we tried every other avenue, and then started Celexa. Helped tremendously!

OCD help

How old were your children when you started medicating? My son just turned 3... I think that would be too young?

Re: OCD help

Re: OCD help

I would also recommend seeing a neurologist or developmental pediatrician. Getting an evaluation and opinion outside of the school I think can also be helpful.