New Behavior... old problem

[opamom]

I have a 7 year old son who has OCD...  We have been quite successful with some behaviour modifications to all ow him to attend school and function quite well every day in th "normal" world...  Over the last two weeks he has begun to develop a repetative speach pattern...  at this point at the end of almost every sentence he repeats the last four or five words of the sentence at a whisper ( ie he will say "what are we going to have for dinner, have for dinner") He has also wet the bed a couple of times in the last 10 days or so which is very out of charecter.  His teacher at school says there have been no issues there of note.  Up to this point in his development when unusual behaviors have cropped up I have been able to get him to tell me with some detail what is truely bothering him in his routine and we have been able to work through and solve the problem and the behaviors go away...  this time despite repeated good conversations no route problem has been identified.  Is this a new progression of the OCD.. he no longer wants to tell me what it is that is bothering him and throwing off his routine or should I be looking other places for an answer to this new problem?

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

Such behavior, called palilalia, is often seen in children who display OCD. You may be involved in a futile attempt when you expect him to tell you about something that is bothering him - that is not likely to occur. Regard it as simply another aspect of his OCD. Has he been evaluated by a child psychiatrist, and is he taking any medication for his condition? The standard of care for OCD is a combination of pharmacological treatment and cognitive behavioral therapy. Some bibliotherapy might also be useful - take a look at Touch and Go Joe, Mr. Worry: A Story about OCD, Talking Back to OCD and also the workbook What To Do When Your Brain Gets Stuck.