Re: 9yr old and school

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

I'm curious as to what exactly the nurse said when you told her about

your daughter's OCD? What reaction did she have? With my daughter's

school (she's going into 3rd grade), as soon as I told them about her

OCD, a HUGE weight was lifted off my shoulders. They not only knew

about OCD, but had experience in dealing with it. One of her gym

teachers has a relative with it, so she became involved with helping

my daughter. The vice principal feels she herself has OCD tendencies!

There is also a social worker (who has a daughter with anxiety) and

psychologist who have worked with me to develop a plan for her.

If the school your daughter goes to is educated on what OCD is, they

should be able to help you figure out what is best for your daughter.

If they are not educated, they should WANT to be, and you can help

them by providing them with as much info as you can gather together.

Is she seeing a psychiatrist and/or psychologist? If so, it can help

to have them get in touch with your school to offer insight as well.

If her learning gets severely disrupted, a 504 or IEP plan can be put

into place to assure your daughter gets the education she needs and

deserves. So far we haven't needed that, but I keep it in the back of

my mind " just in case " .

Either way, stay determined and fight for whatever is best for your

child. Remember how many kids they have to deal with on a daily

basis, so they can be forgetful and seem uncaring to your child's

plight, but YOU have to keep her issues in the forefront. As a side

note, I haven't had any problems with her OCD being talked about

outside of the circle of people who need to know about it.

Good luck -

nna.

NY

> I am a mother of a newly diagnosed 9 yr old with ocd. My question i

throw out there is how does this all play into her education. At the

end of the school year when we started noticing her hands were raw, i

called the school and the teacher said oh, i noticed that too, but i

just thought you were telling her to wash her hands. I told the nurse

about her ocd and nothing was ever said about what we could do in

school with her teachers ect. She is going into 4 grade and i am

scared as all get out. She is behind in reading level and i think now

i can attribute some of it to the ocd. What should i do, and where can

i begin when she starts school this fall.

> shelly lambert

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi , welcome to the list. Unfortunately untreated OCD can interfere

with school and education in bazillions of ways, it depends on your child's

particular obsessions and compulsions. For example the hand-washing: kids

with OCD wash their hands because they obsess that they are dirty, can cause

illness, maybe death, etc. which causes anxiety. The washing is the

compulsion that briefly relieves the anxiety. If your daughter is caught in

this obsessive-compulsive loop at school, you can see she has little

attention and focus left over for whatever the teacher is teaching.

Reading too is a very common activity for OCD to complicate. Obsessions and

compulsions can so distract kids while reading that they can not remember

what they read. Some kids with OCD avoid reading altogether because it

triggers the Os and Cs. My daughter was fearful to both read or watch TV

because of the anxiety caused by the possibility there would be

anxiety-triggering words or images.

At nine, your child can help you pinpoint areas at school that OCD is making

difficult. I just ask my child (11, dx at 5) if OCD is bothering her about

doing homework, math class, friends at school (an obsession of hers is that

everyone she likes hates her), and so on. You could ask your daughter if

there are any weird " rules " she feels she has to follow when reading for

example. Common ones are rereading, feeling unsure she really understood

something so having to read a page again, finding certain " good " words to

balance out other words in the text, counting words or letters, on and on.

Rather than the school nurse, you need to contact your child's school

counselor or the principal and tell them about her diagnosis. Get

information about the accommodations available for children with this

diagnosis (504 or IEP). Request she is placed with the best fourth grade

teacher available--my child thrives with friendly teachers with kind,

low-key demeanors, and freezes with anxiety with loud or sarcastic teachers.

Though my child has an IEP in place, I've found the best results in having

close communication with my child's teacher. The right teacher can make all

the difference between a good year and an awful one, I've found.

How is your daughter's OCD being treated? Cognitive Behavior Therapy with

Exposure and Response Prevention is the one type of therapy that is proved

to reduce and eliminate obsessions and compulsions. Many kids also need an

SSRI medication as well to be comfortable and functional. Since your

daughter is newly-diagnosed, I'm assuming she's also just beginning

treatment, so there's reason to believe her OCD will lessen as the school

year progresses.

Good luck to you and your daughter,

Kathy R. in Indiana

----- Original Message -----

From: " Lambert " <shellybean@...>

>I am a mother of a newly diagnosed 9 yr old with ocd. My question i throw

>out there is how does this all play into her education. At the end of the

>school year when we started noticing her hands were raw, i called the

>school and the teacher said oh, i noticed that too, but i just thought you

>were telling her to wash her hands. I told the nurse about her ocd and

>nothing was ever said about what we could do in school with her teachers

>ect. She is going into 4 grade and i am scared as all get out. She is

>behind in reading level and i think now i can attribute some of it to the

>ocd. What should i do, and where can i begin when she starts school this

>fall.

> shelly lambert