Re: Need help--17 yr. old daughter with OCD just given Asperger's diagnosis

[Guest guest]

My son too has been under treatment for years and we have thought about

Asperger's or nonverbal learning disorder. We are going to Yale next week for

some testing. If he does have a spectrum doagnosis (I am sure that he will), I

will be looking for a new therapist too because I think that if his present

therapist missed that diagnosis, she won't be able to help him as she clearly

doesn't understand what drives his behavior. Cognitive therapy can be done for

kids on the spectrum, but you have to understand the way they think as

generalizing information and the cognitive impulsivity and rigidity has to be

kept in mind.

Aspen is a good resource. They have a resource book in fact and you can perhaps

refer to it for a therapist or I'm sure someone there can give you a list. I

live in NJ too and we are fortunate to have resources in our state.

You might also want to get an OT assessment - they will be able to teach her

some sensory execises that will help her tolerate troublesome situations as well

as organization, ect. There are such things as life coaches too for adults

living with Aspergers or NLD. You have a lot of work ahead of you, but there

are people there to reach out to and that is at least half the battle.

I do know of a Cartwright and SHerry Seabrook who are psychiatrists

dealing with autism here in NJ. I take my son to someone in Manhattan (he's

failry new to us and the one who referred us to Yale).

Good luck and Best wishes,

Bonnie

>

> Dear All:

> Our 17 year old daughter, who has been in treatment and on meds for OCD since

she was 8, has spend the summer at the OCDI at McLean Hospital, where we thought

she would finally get a handle on her OCD and be able to deal with going away to

college in a year, and more importantly, to end the years of social isolation

that we were ASSURED by her psychiatrist was all the result of OCD, even though

my daughter herself asked him numerous times if she had Aspergers and I

suspected as much for years but deferred to the " expert " opinion of her

psychiatrist. We had been seeing her psychiatrist since she was in 4th grade.

She had a great relationship with him, we thought he was smart and understood

her well, but he also insisted on doing all her therapy and meds and that we see

him once a week for that. I decided on my own that she needed more intervention

so I found the OCDI and had her apply. After a few weeks there, it became clear

to her social worker and behavior therapist that her inability to participate

appropriately in group therapy, sensory issues (to food textures, sounds,

especially certain voices--something that gets in her way in school with

teachers), and rigidity in certain areas were symptoms of Aspergers. She

definitely has OCD and has made some progress there in dealing with compulsions,

but they feel she should come home this week after almost 6 weeks because she

needs to deal with some of her Asperger's symptoms before she can fully benefit

from OCD treatment. Unfortunately, her local psychiatrist apparently doesn't

agree with this diagnosis, but we think he is just covering for his

misdiagnosing her all these years. Our daughter is very angry. She keeps

saying, " But he always said I didn't have Asperger's because I have friends! " By

the way, she DID have friends until 7th grade, but after that, when puberty

kicked in, she was left behind and lost the ability to socialize in an age

appropriate fashion. That should have been the tip off, but it was always

somehow explained away by OCD and social anxiety. Our daughter was hyper verbal

as a kid, a bookworm, the kid with the book under the desk at all times in

elementary school. As a teen, she is obsessed with certain topics, monopolizes

conversations, etc...you get the picture.

>

> So, she is coming home this week, and we obviously need a new course of

treatment for her. I have contacted ASPEN in NJ for help, but I'm wondering

what the course of treatment should be for her now. I'm really confused about

how to deal with this. We need a new psychiatrist for sure, but we also need to

tackle both her OCD and her Asperger's social deficits and sensory issues at the

same time.

>

> Would love any advice the group can offer.

> Thank you.

>

> Edelman

> Teaneck, NJ

>

[Guest guest]

Thank you!

> **

>

>

> My son too has been under treatment for years and we have thought about

> Asperger's or nonverbal learning disorder. We are going to Yale next week

> for some testing. If he does have a spectrum doagnosis (I am sure that he

> will), I will be looking for a new therapist too because I think that if his

> present therapist missed that diagnosis, she won't be able to help him as

> she clearly doesn't understand what drives his behavior. Cognitive therapy

> can be done for kids on the spectrum, but you have to understand the way

> they think as generalizing information and the cognitive impulsivity and

> rigidity has to be kept in mind.

>

> Aspen is a good resource. They have a resource book in fact and you can

> perhaps refer to it for a therapist or I'm sure someone there can give you a

> list. I live in NJ too and we are fortunate to have resources in our state.

>

> You might also want to get an OT assessment - they will be able to teach

> her some sensory execises that will help her tolerate troublesome situations

> as well as organization, ect. There are such things as life coaches too for

> adults living with Aspergers or NLD. You have a lot of work ahead of you,

> but there are people there to reach out to and that is at least half the

> battle.

>

> I do know of a Cartwright and SHerry Seabrook who are psychiatrists

> dealing with autism here in NJ. I take my son to someone in Manhattan (he's

> failry new to us and the one who referred us to Yale).

>

> Good luck and Best wishes,

>

> Bonnie

>

>

> >

> > Dear All:

> > Our 17 year old daughter, who has been in treatment and on meds for OCD

> since she was 8, has spend the summer at the OCDI at McLean Hospital, where

> we thought she would finally get a handle on her OCD and be able to deal

> with going away to college in a year, and more importantly, to end the years

> of social isolation that we were ASSURED by her psychiatrist was all the

> result of OCD, even though my daughter herself asked him numerous times if

> she had Aspergers and I suspected as much for years but deferred to the

> " expert " opinion of her psychiatrist. We had been seeing her psychiatrist

> since she was in 4th grade. She had a great relationship with him, we

> thought he was smart and understood her well, but he also insisted on doing

> all her therapy and meds and that we see him once a week for that. I decided

> on my own that she needed more intervention so I found the OCDI and had her

> apply. After a few weeks there, it became clear to her social worker and

> behavior therapist that her inability to participate appropriately in group

> therapy, sensory issues (to food textures, sounds, especially certain

> voices--something that gets in her way in school with teachers), and

> rigidity in certain areas were symptoms of Aspergers. She definitely has OCD

> and has made some progress there in dealing with compulsions, but they feel

> she should come home this week after almost 6 weeks because she needs to

> deal with some of her Asperger's symptoms before she can fully benefit from

> OCD treatment. Unfortunately, her local psychiatrist apparently doesn't

> agree with this diagnosis, but we think he is just covering for his

> misdiagnosing her all these years. Our daughter is very angry. She keeps

> saying, " But he always said I didn't have Asperger's because I have

> friends! " By the way, she DID have friends until 7th grade, but after that,

> when puberty kicked in, she was left behind and lost the ability to

> socialize in an age appropriate fashion. That should have been the tip off,

> but it was always somehow explained away by OCD and social anxiety. Our

> daughter was hyper verbal as a kid, a bookworm, the kid with the book under

> the desk at all times in elementary school. As a teen, she is obsessed with

> certain topics, monopolizes conversations, etc...you get the picture.

> >

> > So, she is coming home this week, and we obviously need a new course of

> treatment for her. I have contacted ASPEN in NJ for help, but I'm wondering

> what the course of treatment should be for her now. I'm really confused

> about how to deal with this. We need a new psychiatrist for sure, but we

> also need to tackle both her OCD and her Asperger's social deficits and

> sensory issues at the same time.

> >

> > Would love any advice the group can offer.

> > Thank you.

> >

> > Edelman

> > Teaneck, NJ

> >

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi , tell your daughter that there are many doctors ( " experts " ) that don't

quite " get " Aspergers/autism and often rule it out due to the wrong reasons.

Having it doesn't mean the child/teen isn't social, they can have friends and/or

want friends. Yeah, it can begin to stand out more around middle school age,

but I remember with my son I noticed the difference in elementary school too,

just even more in middle school and beyond.

Can't add a lot to what Bonnie said. What drives the behavior/problem is

important as to how to approach it. It can be difficult with OCD and Aspergers

together to pick out which is causing a behavior, but you can still work on it

mostly the same way. But with Aspergers/autism, they can often have poor

insight into why they are doing something and/or understanding OCD. My son has

" bad thoughts " and just can't grasp that they are caused by OCD. He thinks the

OCD just makes it all worse, makes him obsess over it, causes the frequency of

them, but that the thoughts are *him.* When his OCD used to be more physical,

with rituals/compulsions, that was much easier for him to see as OCD.

As Bonnie also said, occupational therapy can help a lot with sensory issues.

My son got OT for his writing problem (motor skill) but they worked on the

" whole body " and it helped with his texture and other sensory problems.

Role playing is good for social situations, to practice them. Like where she

monopolizes the conversations, you can practice that, or how to talk to others

(general conversation, back & forth, etc.). You can also just point out to her

things like she is talking too much about a topic or for too long and have a

signal (or just tell her) to let her know when she's doing it.

What are some of her OCD behaviors? Did OCDI feel she has poor insight into her

OCD so she couldn't make a lot more progress there? That's great she got to go

there, have always heard good things about treatment there!

Gotta go, glad you found our group!

single mom, 3 sons

, 22, with OCD, dysgraphia, Aspergers

Just got his BS degree from UNC-CH in Biology! graduated this month!

>

> Dear All:

> Our 17 year old daughter, who has been in treatment and on meds for OCD since

she was 8, has spend the summer at the OCDI at McLean Hospital, where we thought

she would finally get a handle on her OCD and be able to deal with going away to

college in a year, and more importantly, to end the years of social isolation

that we were

[Guest guest]

Bonnie, hope Yale goes well, do let us know what they say. I have a feeling

they will find him on the spectrum too, or at least NVLD!

>

> My son too has been under treatment for years and we have thought about

Asperger's or nonverbal learning disorder. We are going to Yale next week for

some testing. If he does have a spectrum doagnosis (I am sure that he will), I

will be looking for a new therapist too because I think that if his present

therapist missed

[Guest guest]

and others,

We recently finished 2 weeks of AIT (Auditory Integration Training)

http://www.aithelps.com/

It was recommended by our OT to help with his hypersensitivity to sound and

touch. I was skeptical to the point of thinking it wouldn't make ANY

difference, but WOW! It's miraculous really.

Before AIT, he was not able to sit through a math lesson (or just about any

lesson), he had stopped reading, would not go anywhere near crowds, wouldn't

wear shorts, hated park days, parties and play-dates

and a very long list of other resistance.

He is reading books again, cuddling (he wouldn't let me touch him at all,

especially his hair), he is smiling more, way less obsessive and even played

with kids at the park last week.

We still have to see how things will go when I start homeschooling curriculum

in a week, and haven't tried crowded places out yet, but it seems relief from

one symptom sets off a chain reaction to relieve other symptoms.

[Guest guest]

Wow! Thank you for this. If I can find this in my area, it sounds like exactly

what my daughter needs.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Re: Need help--17 yr. old daughter with OCD just

given Asperger's diagnosis

and others,

We recently finished 2 weeks of AIT (Auditory Integration Training)

http://www.aithelps.com/

It was recommended by our OT to help with his hypersensitivity to sound and

touch. I was skeptical to the point of thinking it wouldn't make ANY

difference, but WOW! It's miraculous really.

Before AIT, he was not able to sit through a math lesson (or just about any

lesson), he had stopped reading, would not go anywhere near crowds, wouldn't

wear shorts, hated park days, parties and play-dates

and a very long list of other resistance.

He is reading books again, cuddling (he wouldn't let me touch him at all,

especially his hair), he is smiling more, way less obsessive and even played

with kids at the park last week.

We still have to see how things will go when I start homeschooling curriculum

in a week, and haven't tried crowded places out yet, but it seems relief from

one symptom sets off a chain reaction to relieve other symptoms.

[Guest guest]

That's great Jillian, I remember 's OT (years ago now) wanted to try that

with him but we never did; can't recall why. I assume it's the same thing

(didn't look at your link yet), where he would have been listening with

headphones on to music. Anyway, she talked back then about all the positive

results she'd seen with kids.

Glad he's feeling so much better and so much progress!

>

> and others,

>

> We recently finished 2 weeks of AIT (Auditory Integration Training)

> http://www.aithelps.com/

> It was recommended by our OT to help with his hypersensitivity to sound and

touch. I was skeptical to the point of thinking it wouldn't make ANY

difference, but WOW! It's miraculous really.

> Before AIT, he was not able to sit through a math lesson (or just about any

lesson), he had stopped reading, would not go anywhere

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

My 17 y/o dd also has both OCD and Asperger's. I really have nothing to add to

the insight and suggestions you've already gotten. I just wanted to say " hello. "

For me, the hardest thing has been that my daughter is somewhat socially

isolated, because of her AS, which gives her more time to focus on the " bad

thoughts " caused by OCD. I've had to work hard to make sure she gets out of the

house and stays busy and active. Spending too much time in her own head can be

lethal. :-)

It's also a challenge to find therapists who " get " both Asperger's and OCD. As

understanding of the autism spectrum improves, that's gradually getting easier.

17 y/o dd with OCD, anxiety/depression, NVLD & Asperger's

[Guest guest]

Thank you, . We have the same struggles to keep our daughter

active, as she is also very socially isolated. I think I may have found a

good therapist for her since I posted, so here is hoping.

On Mon, Aug 15, 2011 at 8:55 PM, Ward

wrote:

> **

>

>

> Hi ,

>

> My 17 y/o dd also has both OCD and Asperger's. I really have nothing to add

> to the insight and suggestions you've already gotten. I just wanted to say

> " hello. " For me, the hardest thing has been that my daughter is somewhat

> socially isolated, because of her AS, which gives her more time to focus on

> the " bad thoughts " caused by OCD. I've had to work hard to make sure she

> gets out of the house and stays busy and active. Spending too much time in

> her own head can be lethal. :-)

>

> It's also a challenge to find therapists who " get " both Asperger's and OCD.

> As understanding of the autism spectrum improves, that's gradually getting

> easier.

>

>

> 17 y/o dd with OCD, anxiety/depression, NVLD & Asperger's

>

>

>