Guest guest Posted July 8, 2007 Report Share Posted July 8, 2007 Hi Theresa, When we had re-reading, i had her practice reading statements from the newspaper, comics, magazines, and other short items that she said she could read without having to re-read. Once this was proven, we moved on to childrens books, short articles and then kids workbooks with simple short answer questions. What i found out is that once the worry was addressed, she would race towards the next level. The other two also stopped reading for a time. I took them to Chapters and let them pick out anything, at any level, to read. Ziv (10) took simpler childrens books while Tom (14) picked Encyclopedia of Serial Killers!! We never told them to read more, but did insist that they read a little all the time. To stop reading would be letting OCD get control of their lives. Today, they are all reading at their own levels and interests. Remind your dd that she is in charge, not ocd, and the goal is to boss back the nasty thoughts that are making her do things that she doesnt want to do! take care, wendy, in ottawa, canada --- tm_marion <tm_marion@...> wrote> > Any ideas for how to tackle this OCD behaviour? Dd really > wants to overcome it because she was such an avid, serious reader (she won a scholarship last year for a reader's/ > writer's camp that starts next week) and she's now > reduced to reading Archie comics #:>). > She WANTS to be able to read again (I'm not expecting any > miracles before camp, just long-term, I hope she still gets something positive out of the camp). Thanks. > > Theresa (in Vancouver, Canada) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 8, 2007 Report Share Posted July 8, 2007 Theresa, I'm a pretty terrible therapist myself. It takes a lot of patience. On the other hand, my son's therapists haven't all been that great. One made the mistake of starting at the top of his hierarchy instead of at the bottom, so naturally he didn't get very far with his exposures and saw no reward for his efforts. I would just make sure that the actual reading is something your daughter is able to tackle first, rather than starting with something easier for her to do so she can work her way to the top of the mountain with successes along the way. Best of luck, --- tm_marion <tm_marion@...> wrote: > Dd12 has been working with a PhD psychology student > and I insisted they focus on ERP. I > haven't seen dd's fear hierarchy, but the behaviour > she chose to work on was reading. She > now has trouble reading because she gets " stuck " and > must re-read a passage until she is > sure she understands it. > > Her instructions from the student are: to read for > 15 mins on weekdays and not go back > and re-read. I'm to ask her every minute where her > anxiety is on a scale from 1-10 and > record it. She tells me every time she wants to > re-read and I also ask where her anxiety is > and record it. With re-reads, I ask her every 20 > seconds about her anxiety (usually starts at > a 10) until it gets down to about a 4, at which > point go back to asking every minute. > > This doesn't sound to me like the best way of > tackling this problem, and to be honest, we > haven't done it at home. Dd HATES this therapist, > and thankfully won't be seeing her any > more as her internship is up. Dd doesn't do well > with being talked down to (like a baby she > says) and shuts down with her. So I'm planning on > taking over as her therapist. > > Any ideas for how to tackle this OCD behaviour? Dd > really wants to overcome it because > she was such an avid, serious reader (she won a > scholarship last year for a reader's/ > writer's camp that starts next week) and she's now > reduced to reading Archie comics #:>). > She WANTS to be able to read again (I'm not > expecting any miracles before camp, just > long-term, I hope she still gets something positive > out of the camp). Thanks. > > Theresa (in Vancouver, Canada) > dd12 OCD 10mg Prozac (sometimes), 3mg Melatonin, > fish oil; ds10; dd5 > > ________________________________________________________________________________\ ____ Luggage? GPS? Comic books? Check out fitting gifts for grads at Search http://search./search?fr=oni_on_mail & p=graduation+gifts & cs=bz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 Thanks and . She CAN read if she wants, it's just that it's so painstakingly slow that it's frustrating, hence the Archie comics. She can and still will read other stuff, just that the re-reading gets in the way and she loses momentum and has trouble remembering what's going on. And yes, being a therapist takes a lot of patience. It took us about two weeks of daily ERP when she was 7 to work through her not being able to be upstairs if no one was with her. But her success with that virtually eliminated her other OCD compulsions, like magic! I think what I might try is a variation on the handwashing ERP someone posted a while ago. Instead of asking her to stop re-reading altogether, I'll ask her to stop re-reading for, say 10 seconds, then re-read. Basically work up to not re-reading at all in 5-second increments. But it will take some intense work. If anyone else has any ideas, I'm open. Also, as I said in a previous post, we got in to see Dr. , who is experienced in ERP and has worked with dd before. We only get one or two sessions before she goes on holidays, but it should help. I'm also (as mentioned in my other post, sorry for repeating) looking for a good manual on ERP for me to use. Also wondering what is the manual used by psychologists as I'll be talking to Dr. , head of children's psychology at BC Children's, who's supervising Dd's PhD student as I don't think the student was well-trained at all, and they were specifically looking for a child with OCD to work with...hmmm. BTW, she has a hard time thinking of OCD as something separate from her, the idea kind of freaks her out. When she's really down on herself, she says she is mentally handicapped. Theresa --- w birkhan <birkhanw@...> wrote: > > Hi Theresa, > > When we had re-reading, i had her practice reading > statements from the newspaper, comics, magazines, and other > short items that she said she could read without having to > re-read. Once this was proven, we moved on to childrens > books, short articles and then kids workbooks with simple > short answer questions. What i found out is that once the > worry was addressed, she would race towards the next level. > > The other two also stopped reading for a time. I took them > to Chapters and let them pick out anything, at any level, > to read. Ziv (10) took simpler childrens books while Tom > (14) picked Encyclopedia of Serial Killers!! We never told > them to read more, but did insist that they read a little > all the time. To stop reading would be letting OCD get > control of their lives. Today, they are all reading at > their own levels and interests. > > Remind your dd that she is in charge, not ocd, and the goal > is to boss back the nasty thoughts that are making her do > things that she doesnt want to do! > > take care, wendy, in ottawa, canada --- lisa fishman <noahfsmom@...> wrote: > > Theresa, > I'm a pretty terrible therapist myself. It takes a lot > of patience. On the other hand, my son's therapists > haven't all been that great. One made the mistake of > starting at the top of his hierarchy instead of at the > bottom, so naturally he didn't get very far with his > exposures and saw no reward for his efforts. I would > just make sure that the actual reading is something > your daughter is able to tackle first, rather than > starting with something easier for her to do so she > can work her way to the top of the mountain with > successes along the way. > Best of luck, > > > > --- tm_marion <tm_marion@...> wrote> > > Any ideas for how to tackle this OCD behaviour? Dd really > > wants to overcome it because she was such an avid, > serious reader (she won a scholarship last year for a > reader's/ > > writer's camp that starts next week) and she's now > > reduced to reading Archie comics #:>). > > She WANTS to be able to read again (I'm not expecting any > > miracles before camp, just long-term, I hope she still > gets something positive out of the camp). Thanks. > > > > Theresa (in Vancouver, Canada) > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 Thanks and . She CAN read if she wants, it's just that it's so painstakingly slow that it's frustrating, hence the Archie comics. She can and still will read other stuff, just that the re-reading gets in the way and she loses momentum and has trouble remembering what's going on. And yes, being a therapist takes a lot of patience. It took us about two weeks of daily ERP when she was 7 to work through her not being able to be upstairs if no one was with her. But her success with that virtually eliminated her other OCD compulsions, like magic! I think what I might try is a variation on the handwashing ERP someone posted a while ago. Instead of asking her to stop re-reading altogether, I'll ask her to stop re-reading for, say 10 seconds, then re-read. Basically work up to not re-reading at all in 5-second increments. But it will take some intense work. If anyone else has any ideas, I'm open. Also, as I said in a previous post, we got in to see Dr. , who is experienced in ERP and has worked with dd before. We only get one or two sessions before she goes on holidays, but it should help. I'm also (as mentioned in my other post, sorry for repeating) looking for a good manual on ERP for me to use. Also wondering what is the manual used by psychologists as I'll be talking to Dr. , head of children's psychology at BC Children's, who's supervising Dd's PhD student as I don't think the student was well-trained at all, and they were specifically looking for a child with OCD to work with...hmmm. BTW, she has a hard time thinking of OCD as something separate from her, the idea kind of freaks her out. When she's really down on herself, she says she is mentally handicapped. Theresa --- w birkhan <birkhanw@...> wrote: > > Hi Theresa, > > When we had re-reading, i had her practice reading > statements from the newspaper, comics, magazines, and other > short items that she said she could read without having to > re-read. Once this was proven, we moved on to childrens > books, short articles and then kids workbooks with simple > short answer questions. What i found out is that once the > worry was addressed, she would race towards the next level. > > The other two also stopped reading for a time. I took them > to Chapters and let them pick out anything, at any level, > to read. Ziv (10) took simpler childrens books while Tom > (14) picked Encyclopedia of Serial Killers!! We never told > them to read more, but did insist that they read a little > all the time. To stop reading would be letting OCD get > control of their lives. Today, they are all reading at > their own levels and interests. > > Remind your dd that she is in charge, not ocd, and the goal > is to boss back the nasty thoughts that are making her do > things that she doesnt want to do! > > take care, wendy, in ottawa, canada --- lisa fishman <noahfsmom@...> wrote: > > Theresa, > I'm a pretty terrible therapist myself. It takes a lot > of patience. On the other hand, my son's therapists > haven't all been that great. One made the mistake of > starting at the top of his hierarchy instead of at the > bottom, so naturally he didn't get very far with his > exposures and saw no reward for his efforts. I would > just make sure that the actual reading is something > your daughter is able to tackle first, rather than > starting with something easier for her to do so she > can work her way to the top of the mountain with > successes along the way. > Best of luck, > > > > --- tm_marion <tm_marion@...> wrote> > > Any ideas for how to tackle this OCD behaviour? Dd really > > wants to overcome it because she was such an avid, > serious reader (she won a scholarship last year for a > reader's/ > > writer's camp that starts next week) and she's now > > reduced to reading Archie comics #:>). > > She WANTS to be able to read again (I'm not expecting any > > miracles before camp, just long-term, I hope she still > gets something positive out of the camp). Thanks. > > > > Theresa (in Vancouver, Canada) > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 Wow, we must be in synch. I asked her this morning (before reading your post) " What about if you read aloud " and she said " I don't have any problems with needing to re-read if I read aloud. " Which is...interesting. I like your idea about reading a paragraph (might have to be only a sentence) and then closing the book so she can't re-read. Problem with this is it sets her off at a 10/10 for anxiety. But your strategy with increasing intervals, like I said, maybe start with closing the book for 10 seconds, then she can open it and re-read that sentence. Then of course, she'd read the next sentence and we'd have to close the book again. Might be a good idea to use a book she's not too interested in as I could see this getting very frustrating for her. On a positive note, on day 2 of her book camp, she's having a lot of fun, though she felt intimidated today because they announced to the whole group that she had won the scholarship (to attend this year's camp) because of the extreme talent shown at last year's camp. She feels she has to be a superstar to impress them rather than just doing what she does best: writing in her own voice. Here's something she wrote today. Each person was given an object as an inspiration: " Deep blue skies. Clouds blooming into shapes becoming into flowers. As time goes by the cloud stays the same. Rays of light penetrate through the cloud creating the centre of the time flower....It is said that the time flower creates the gentle warm scent of the earth. When it rains, the flower soaks up the water making it grow. The time flower was here when I rose and it will be here when I fall. Beauty can grow almost eveywhere. But if you look carefully, you'll find a bit of beauty in everything. " The object she was given was a glass flower with a watch face in the middle. Hard to believe this comes from a 12yo who has talked about wanting to die and who hates herself. Sigh. I just tucked her in and she was reading a novel, not an Archie comic. Yeh! But she's up too late, so am I...tsk! Theresa (in Vancouver, Canada) dd12 OCD 10mg Prozac (sometimes) 3mg Melatonin (every night); ds10; dd5 > > > > Thanks and . She CAN read if she wants, it's just that > it's so painstakingly slow > > that it's frustrating, hence the Archie comics. She can and still > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 Theresa, wow, she's talented with her writing! And congrats to her for the scholarship! Is sort of interesting how they don't re-read if they read aloud. I wonder if you distract her after she reads a paragraph to herself/silently and closes the book, if that would help. For instance, she could tell you about the paragraph, what was said/happened/.... Might take her mind, a tiny bit, off the need to re-read or at least postpone it. > > Wow, we must be in synch. I asked her this morning (before reading your post) " What > about if you read aloud " and she said " I don't have any problems with needing to re-read if Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted July 11, 2007 Report Share Posted July 11, 2007 Thanks Chris. I'll try that strategy too. I don't think I'll get a chance to tackle this until the weekend so I'll gather all the suggestions and try them. Yeah, reading aloud would probably be faster than the re-reading, but I don't know why it doesn't require re-reading... She had a meltdown today after camp saying she's fat, even though her body mass index is only 17.5 whereas it should be between 15 and 25, over 25 meaning obese. Can't get it through to her that she's not fat. Doesn't help that I'm about 40 lbs overweight. I think she's headed in the right direction though. She's in the summer reading club with the library where they " recommend " everyone read for 15 minutes per day. Of course her OCD tells her she can't go to bed if she hasn't read for 15 minutes so she's meticulous about doing this every day. Theresa > > > > Wow, we must be in synch. I asked her this morning (before reading > your post) " What > > about if you read aloud " and she said " I don't have any problems > with needing to re-read if > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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