(was: Re: validation)

[Guest guest]

Last month we drove to Lake Tahoe with a group of

> friends and she drove everyone completely insane talking

incessantly and

> scaring us to death with her wild antics. Yesterday we went there

again -

> same group of friends. She sat by herself, sulked and was too

scared to jump

> off a single rock into the water

Hi - I don't know if this question will make sense.....but I'm

trying to figure out about some of Ben's behaviors and whether they

are OCD or meds related.....It seems clear from what you've

described, that your daughter's talkativeness is caused by her

sensitivity to meds.....but what was she like _before_ OCD set in -

was she talkative or more quiet or something inbetween? Ben has

_always_ been a big talker. He has an incredible vocabulary for a 6

year old and just loves to engage adults in conversation. He has

always struggled with waiting his turn to speak, but it seemed,

before the OCD, to be one of those things about his personality - it

didn't seem inappropriate, just something he needed to learn to

temper a bit. Now, since the OCD/meds, Ben seems to have an

incredible urgency to speak - there's an intensity about it, when

talking to strangers that is now inappropriate. I will begin to ask a

person a question and he will cut me off with a question of his own

and when I don't allow it, it's like he can't help himself - he has

even snapped at me - which is totally out of character. So how do I

know if it's meds or OCD? Any thoughts?

Another thing that has happened, and he has identified it on his own

as OCD, is that he is having a hard time sometimes, completing a

sentence. He says that the OCD thoughts (he definitely has intrusive

thoughts) interrupt him and then he forgets what he was talking

about. It is breaking my heart to hear him try to talk to an adult

about something he is really interested in and start the same

sentence 5 times, and it is obvious that he is losing his train of

thought - and half the time, he peeters out because he forgets what

he was going to say. Combine that with his vocal throat clearing tic

and you just want to do the talking for him....he is so aware of it -

because he usually gets such a positive, enthusiastic response from

adults - and something that was so easy is now a struggle. Any

thoughts as to how to help him through this?????

We're just back from a vacation to Cape Cod - we had fun, but it has

also raised a number of questions I hope to be posting to you all

soon.....I'm still trying to catch up on all the posts!

Terry