OCDness

You know what sucks about autism? Well I'm sure you know a lot of things that suck about autism if you read my blog, but we're sticking to one topic today.

The fact that autism is really a pseudonym for "All DSM-IV diagnoses, in varying extremeties, rolled into one individual". Meaning, that if you have autism, you must likely have some ADHD tendencies, OCD tendencies, schizophrenic tendencies, antisocial personality disorder tendencies, bipolar tendencies, anxiety tendencies, and the list goes on and on and on.

Lately Brian has been becoming more stuck on his "OCDness". Doors have to be closed, light switches have to be either on or off depending on the time of day or occasionally he just decides if one light goes off every one in the house needs to, sometimes he needs to flash the lights on and off three times before going up the stairs, in places with rows of things he has to touch every row, he has to be the last one out of the house so he can close the door, the fan in the bathroom has to be on whenever anyone is in there (not just him), toilet seat has to be down, etc.

He actually woke up out of a dead sleep two nights ago when he heard me use the bathroom to come out and make sure the toilet seat was down, light was off, and bathroom door was closed.

Yesterday we were doing "homework" and he was fighting me, really fighting me with every muscle in his body. I was holding him thinking he was just trying to avoid the "work" and I was breaking out in a sweat from trying to keep him with me. He finally wriggled out of my arms and ran straight for the light switch on the stairs and turned them off. He then ran straight back to me, sat on my lap with a much more relaxed body, and completed the work I had laid out for him.

I wish his OCD behaviors could carry over to his playroom!!

On the serious side, I'm not always sure how to handle these things. Sometimes they can be really hindering and slightly annoying but what is going through his head when he just NEEDS to do one of these tasks. I've read books and seen specials about OCD and I know that to people with this disorder they really do NEED to do those things and they don't feel well until they do. I wonder if this is how it is for Brian.