What do I do to help her?

[Guest guest]

My daughter was diagnosed with OCD at the age of 5. She has been

taking Zoloft for almost 2 years. She started at 50mg and we

increased it to 100mg this past July when she started to have trouble

again. The medication seems to help keep her anxiety at a tolerable

level, but it doesn't eliminate all of her anxieties. We try to work

through her fears and use the techniques that her psychologist taught

us. It usually helps us get through the fear, but I am concerned

about her behavior in school this year. I don't know if it is the

OCD or her personality, but she is having trouble relating to the

kids in her 1st grade class.

My daughter sees everything as black or white, there are no shades of

gray in her mind. She doesn't understand what is a joke and what is

a serious remark. She is sensitive and gets her feelings hurt easily

when kids are joking and she doesn't get it. She is also bothered by

the classroom noise. She told me tonight that the 1st grade students

are having a competition this week on things like chin ups and monkey

bars. She is very timid and not athletically minded at all, she is

fearful of falling to the point where she won't try activities like

this on her own. She told me that the PE teacher is putting too much

pressure on her and she hates the monkey bars. I tried to encourage

her to just do her best, but then I wonder why she has to try monkey

bars...are they really necessary? She is a smart, kind, well-behaved

student who just doesn't like PE....should she be made to

participate? I just don't want to allow her to use her anxiety as an

excuse to not participate. How do you know when to push and when to

try to get your child excused from an anxiety inducing activity?

Thank you for reading my rambling, I am just sad for her and need

direction.