Dear Miss Faith,
My husband is has has Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) since puberty, and now my 4.5 year old son is showing some of the same signs. We have consulted a child psychiatrist who has said that it was too early to say anything, and it could just be imitative behavior. Lately, he has been washing his hands and changing his clothes repeatedly, saying they are dirty or sticky, demanding to change his clothes as he happened to step on his sister’s pj as he is concerned she might have peed in them at night. (she is 3.5 years old). He always has his own fixed spot on sofa or bed and will not sit or sleep there if someone else sat there first. He never eats or drinks from someone else’s plate. If while playing, I accidently touch a toy with my mouth, he has to go wash it. I stay at home with my 2 kids, and I wonder if you have any ideas on how I should respond to this unique behavior of his in a positive way that would help him to grow into a happy, healthy, successful individual. Your insight and wisdom is of a great value to us at this time. Please do respond.
Dear Mama,
Oh gosh! What a hard, hard situation to be in. And how scary! My heart goes out to you and your family.
Consult with a *good* occupational therapist. I’m not a spammer, or an OT. Find one affiliated with ICDL–it’s an organization that, among other things, is gentle with, respectful of, kids. Check ICDL.com. Make some calls to people in your area, they should be able to talk with you and let you know whether they can help. They aren’t likely to insist on seeing you in person, getting paid a large fee for an assessment, and not give you any useful support. Good luck.
Thanks for this resource. I’ve worked with several occupational therapists helping children in my care, and they were all helpful/did good work. I didn’t know that some would work remotely.
Psychological interventions such as behavioral and cognitive-behavioral therapy as well as pharmacological treatment can lead to substantial reduction of OCD symptoms for the average patient. However, OCD symptoms persist at moderate levels even following adequate treatment course and a completely symptom-free period is uncommon.`…`
All the best to you <https://healthdigest101.com/index.php