I have a son six years old with OCD and r/o ASD and super sensitive and tons of reactivity. I do not want to do medication this young and I’m a therapist. I am curious of other’s journey. We did meet w psychiatrist that suggested and prescribed low dose of Zoloft. My son would not meet this Psychiatrist and I am working on finding a female psychiatrist. I am nervous with him being so young for medication. The issue that alarms me is the level of physical aggression only in meltdown or rigidity of not getting the ritual or the a lot of wanting specifically more time in the day or not understand or wanting the day to go as he has planned.
Hi Tonya,
It would be good to rule out ASD, as what you describe could be more of an ASD issue than an OCD issue and would be handled differently. Have you taken the difficult behavior class you get free access to as a member? That might be a helpful place to start. There are videos for you and also videos for him to watch directly. You can find it here: https://atparentingcommunity.com/courses/handling-difficult-behavior-class/
Great call today and my son listened to the kids call and seems intrigued. We went through whole OCD series and he identifies with Just Right OCD * perfectinism, he has certain number he loves and patterns w numbers, rituals of how he walks to car, hoarding things in car around his car seat, not wanting anyone else to touch our cat, sensory things w clothes getting wet and clothes only where pj and clothes have to hit certain place on his body, issues w high sensitivity to smell, and the list goes on and on.
The initially testing we did was Development Psych at Rady Children’s here in San Diego. Sudden onset of stuttering super significant. They dx GAD w rule out ASD and OCD. I have felt he has OCD since little w the rituals and rigidity though I may have missed ASD since I had narrow view of what fit that label.
I’m not a psychiatrist so that would be something to ask them, but I have seen kids with ASD be put on SSRIs or mood stabilizers to help with the anxiety, rigidity and/or aggression.
