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Here you'll find advice from parents and teachers on special needs education.

Ds 6-does his behaviour sound like classic OCD?

4 replies

poshwellies · 30/06/2009 00:29

Ds who's 6 has started to show what I think is ocd.

Bit of background

He was diagnosed at 17 months with global development delay along with Hypermobility in all his joints and speech delay.He attended a wonderful SN nursey and by the time he was school age,he was discharged and a happy,lively chatty boy (albeit shy and sensitive)and ready for mainstream school.

He had some sensory issues from a young age mainly his clothes and hating 'stratchy' textiles and some food issues too but these calmed down over the last few years until a month or so ago.

He is now obsessed with his food being contaminated (he thinks flies eggs are in all his foodstuffs/drinks) and is constantly spitting (we assume to get rid of what he thinks is in his mouth).He is eating but a vast reduced amount and both dh and I have noticed some weight loss which is very worrying.Dinnertime is a stressed affair atm.

His normal calm mood has dramatically changed,his temper is increasingly short (we are having hourly temper tantrums-which is tiring and upsetting for him and for us) and often cries for hours when things don't go 'right'.The clothing issues are back and sometimes it takes a hour or so for him to get dressed as everything feels wrong next to his skin.

He is also praying alot,nothing wrong with this in itself,but this a new thing.

I have asked him about his worries and he says he can't stop thinking and his head is stuck and gets very upset and frustrated.We've ignored it and also tried to rationalise out his fears,but nothing is working .

We have booked a gp appointment tomorrow to discuss ds's behaviour,partly because of his weight loss but obviously,if ds has OCD,he needs all the help we can get.

Is 6 yrs old to young to diagnose OCD or this likely to be a phase? Anyone with any experience of this?

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poshwellies · 30/06/2009 00:30

Sorry for typos .

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TotalChaos · 30/06/2009 00:40

I honestly couldn't say whether it's likely to be a phase or not, but can understand why you are so concerned. You might find this site useful, www.ocdyouth.info/default.aspx, it has information about OCD and children (and is aimed at young people), and has been written by the Maudsley hospital in London, who are pretty much the national specialists for OCD in general.

I guess that his anxiety levels will be very high if he's so stressed around mealtimes, thus affecting mood and temper the rest of the day.

DidEinsteinsMum · 30/06/2009 01:46

Its not too young for OCD. Ds started showing signs of it at 2 3/4. He would wash until he bled. Hoping Dr is sympathetic and your ds can get some help.

poshwellies · 30/06/2009 14:26

Thanks for the link TotalChaos-interesting reading.I just hope the GP takes ds seriously as the more I look back, the more I can see the rituals and compulsions that ds has had. .

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