Please help

[Guest guest]

Hi,

My name is Carol, and I am new to this group. My daughter was

diagnosed with OCD at the age of 5. She has always been very

impulsive and hyper. About a month ago she was also diagnosed with

an anxiety disorder. We have been dealing with things fairly well

until recently. She has suddenly become aggressive at school, and is

being very disruptive. She is in the resource program to work on her

social skills and in the gifted program . None of her teachers seem

to know what to do with her. She started taking meds just 4 days

ago, and although I told her teachers it would probably be several

weeks before we know if it will be effective, they seem to be looking

for a " quick fix " . They are punishing her by taking away her recess,

her focus (gifted) class and her specials (art, music, P.E., etc).

Today, her resource teacher said that we may need to talk about

taking her out of the Art Club if the meds and her behavior don't

start to improve. I wrote back that I will not pull her out of the

Art Club unless the art teacher asks me to. In my experience, that

will only make her behavior worse. I can't see punishing her that

severely for behaviors that she currently has no control over. I

know she needs consequences for her behaviors, but I don't know what

would be appropriate for her and her disorders. I would appreciate

any and all advice. Her teachers don't know how to deal with her,

and neither do we. It is hard on her teachers and classmates, and I

know it is hard on her as well. We have not yet talked to her about

her OCD because we don't know how much to tell her. I also don't

want her to use it as an excuse for her behavior. I am open to any

suggestions on how to make her school experience better for her and

her teachers and classmates, and on what we should tell her about her

disorders. I'm sorry this is so long, but it is so nice to have

someone to talk to about this. Thank you very much.

Carol