Obsessive
Compulsive
Disorder (OCD)

strategies

While a team of professionals can best determine treatment (See Diagnosis), here are some strategies and guidelines for getting started.

• Guidelines for Educating Children with OCD
• Strategies for Improving Performance in Content Area Classes

There are many free resources available on our Website:

• Teach organizational skills; keep daily activity supplies in a designated place; make a list and check off each item as it is completed. Try a schoolwork communication folder, with or without communication cards.
• Make a space with few distractions; remove things that draw attention away from the task. Some children might respond well to a study tent.
• Use pictures to make expectations clear, especially for young children. For example, if it's hard to get out of the house in the morning, use a sequence of pictures that can be checked off as they are completed to help keep a child organized.
• Prepare for transitions. For transitions between work activities, use a work system. for transitions between activities, try larger schedules. For example, young children may be less impatient if they have a clear understanding of what their day will be like. The same strategies are useful with older children and adults - just replace pictures with written descriptions.
• Break up tasks into small segments; give directions for each segment separately.
• Increase structure during learning tasks. Activities from the Home Teaching Kit might also be helpful.
• Reward completion of small tasks; provide personalized rewards.Use forms for sticker charts to make the rewards concrete and enhance their effectiveness. Older children may be able to use more complicated reward systems, like working toward a large reward for successful completion of a task or chore five days out of seven.
• Schedule times for physical activity; take breaks throughout a long or tedious task.
• Teach social skills to improve peer relationships and reciprocal work and play. One aspect of this is learning to respond appropriately to facial expressions.
• For handwriting, use lined paper that has upper and lower case markings for young children.
• Use games like Math Mahjong to reinforce math skills and Printable Math Grids to help keep things orderly.
  
  
• Please check our list of all resources at Site Map to see if there are other items that can help your child.