Children and OCD

For Children with OCD and Their Parents

Updated 13-Jul-2007

This page is an attempt to collect links of interest to children who suffer from OCD and to their parents. There a number of children-related links scattered throughout my other OCD pages and I'll gradually include them here as I expand this page.

Education

• Maryland
  • Learning Disabilities Association of Montgomery County Maryland
  • MCneeds - "Discussion of special needs population for Montgomery County, Maryland."
  • The Parents' Place of Maryland - "A Center for Families of Children with Disabilities". The site has a number of useful publications on IEPs.
• Internet Special Education Resources - "a nationwide directory of professionals who serve the learning disabilities and special education communities".
• Learning Disabilities Association of America
• "Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) in Young People" - factsheet 26 from the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
• Obsessive Compulsive Foundation of Metropolitan Chicago:
  • "Got OCD?" - is a downloadable brochure "designed specifically for teens and pre-teens".
  • How to Help Your Child: A Guide for Parents - is a downloadable 24-page overview of OCD symptoms, treatment, classroom issues, and resources.
• Mark Kozlowski's extensive The Tourette Syndrome Phenomenon has a section devoted to raising children with TS and includes a lengthy article on the subject and an interesting bibliography.
• Dr. Leslie Packer's Tourette Syndrome "Plus" is a large, but well-organized site on TS, OCD, ADHD, and other disorders. The site has lots of information for parents and educators; in particular, see the advocacy and education pages.

Resources for Children

Books

• Blink, Blink, Clop. Clop: Why Do We Do Things We Can't Stop? - by E. Katia Mortiz, Ph.D. and Jennifer Jablonsky. A storybook aimed at helping young children to understand and manage OCD. (The publisher, Childswork/Childplay, has books and games for other disorders as well.)
• Kissing Doorknobs - by Terry Spencer Hesser. A young adult novel told from the point of view of a 14-year-old who has developed OCD. (Review)
• The Secret Problem - is a cartoon book about OCD for children, written and illustrated by Drs. Chris Wever and Neil Phillips, two psychiatrists in Australia. They have also written similar books about panic disorder and ADD; see Shrink-Rap Press.
• Up and Down the Worry Hill - by Dr. Aureen Wagner. (Publisher's site)
• "Wanda's Secrets: A Story About a Girl with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder" - by Cherry Pedrick, R.N.

Computer

• Teen OCD - a formerly active web site for teens with OCD; fortunately, the ocdteen mailing list is still active.
• Why Me? - an OCD-ROM for children available from the Maudsley OCD Clinic. "Young people from the Maudsley clinic have helped us identify the most important messages about OCD, and we have put them together in this OCD-ROM."

Movies

• The Surface - a short film by Adam Bernard about a teenager with OCD. (OCF review)

Theater

• The Intelligence of Jenny Chow - a play by Rolin Jones about a teenage computer guru with OCD. (Review)