I realized that in my last blog I gave some very clinical answers to the question “what to do about OCD?” But that doesn’t always help those of us in the trenches. Although each child is very different and those who suffer from OCD have very different obsessions and compulsions, I’m going to offer up some of the things that have worked for LuLu.

Keep in mind that not all these things work all the time. And that no matter how hard I try, I sometimes can not remember to pull out some of these tools, nor can... more

There are two basic courses of action for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder recognized by the mainstream psychiatric community. One is to medicate with an SSRI (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor ), medications such as Paxil, Zoloft, Lexapro or Prozac. The other is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). Both have shown to be very effective for treating/managing OCD.

Medications

Although not a “cure” for OCD, medications are often a first-line treatment for anyone who has moderate to severe OCD symptoms. Because SSRIs allow the serotonin to remain available... more

It happens every day. Sometimes during her typing practice, sometimes when we’re learning a new math skill, sometimes if the words begin jumping around on the page of her reading book – LuLu gets frustrated. What happens next? Well that depends so much on what LuLu does next.

“You can do it, you can do it,” she sometimes chants to herself. “Don’t make me eat Styrofoam!” she sometimes whines loudly. (I have no explanation for why she says this, but she does, often.)

Sometimes her verbalizations sound... more