DD OCD

Morning,
Today is a new day. They moved my mum into yet another room, this time it's a single. Math boy is back - which is great. I'm off to the gym tonight after a long break. I have been jogging and am up to 22mins straight. I haven't lost anything, but my pants feel better.

Someone posted about how OCD DD is as she is okay sleeping at my ILs. First of - she has mild OCD and is only 7 - so things might get worse, or they might stay the same. It's difficult to tell with OCD. Unlike autism or turrets, OCD usually hits when a child hits puberty - so we might have more issues when she gets older. As for sleeping at my ILs - when she sleeps over there she is sleeping with someone, so not alone in the bed. That is the only way that she is able to sleep "out of her comfort zone". Here's are some of her things:

1. She can not write certain letters in the way that they are asked if this is not the way she knows...as an example - she prints the letter "a" with a tail. Sometimes the example she is asked to follow does not have that tail, and she can not follow that - she has to print it with the tail.

2. She can not play team sports. Things that are not in her control are very difficult to grasp for her. We signed her up for soccer last winter and she lasted 3 lessons. The concept of something (i.e. the ball) being kicked in front of her and her trying to control it is too difficult for her. On top of that, she has trouble playing a team sport where she can not determine what the other players are going to do. It throws her out and she can not grasp it.

3. She can not have anything on her face apart from cream. She is the only kid I know that never made a mess on her face when she first started to feed herself. We have one picture where she had a bit of spots, and then she cried for ever while until we got it cleaned off.

4. She started to count at the car door before she opened it. She was 5 at that time and it took us a few months getting her out of that.

5. At school when she is tasked with doing something she takes her time and does it, but if time runs out and the class is asked to move on to another item she can not. Her teachers have recognised this and are now able to provide her with the extra time. The sudden stopping of something that she is working on when is has not completed it is very difficult for her to adjust to.

6. Sleeping...oh sleeping...When she's at home and in her comfort zone....her closet light has to remain on, and the closet door has to be closed to a very specific place. Her blanket can not have any creases in it. She has to have a specific amount of time where I read to her and then Math Boy. I have very specific things that I have to say to her before I can leave her room and while I'm walking down the stairs. If she does not hear these, then she can cry for hours.

7. She can not wear socks where the stitching touches her toes.

8. She can only use a child's tooth brush (similar to that used by my three year old) as she has very sensitive gums (a symptom of OCD).

9. The sleeves of her tops have to be a specific length as she can not have them ride up her arms when she is wearing a jacket or coat.

10. Her pants have to be a specific length as she can not have them touching the floor.

I could go on, but these are just a few examples. The one thing about OCD, especially her's, is that the child can hold it all in when they are out of the house, but when they get in their comfort zone and are tired - it all gets thrown out the window.

I know that I don't need to justify the diagnosis from two different child psychologists (including one who used to head the Children's Mood Disorder Clinic at the local children's hospital), but I did anyway.

Unlike autism or turrets, you can not see OCD in someone, they don't look any different, and in a child they might look like they are just spoiled when they start screaming because their mittens are on the outside of their jacket sleeve instead of the inside. Or when the ketchup has touched the peas.

Thnx for reading
Rakhi