repeative 12 yr old son

Tila ↓

Mon, Oct 27 2008, 10:49 am

I read the six yr old w/tourrete's; this is different and I cannot figure it out. I DREAD when my son comes home and he starts with the repeating. He will go "Mommy?" and I will say "Yes..." and he will rpeat it until I shout "TALK TO ME!!!" then he will start, but I have to repeat the key words over in his disscussion, over and over. This can last until I tell him in a very firm voice to stop. Some times I hear him reading outloud, and he reads the same sentance outloud over and over for about 3 to 4 minutes. Its almost like ocd, but I am not sure. Who do I take him to??? HELP!!!!!

Clarissa ↓

Mon, Oct 27 2008, 10:54 am

I would take him to a pediatric neurologist, and discuss possibilities. It does sound like OCD to me. Reading the same passage over and over really does sound like this. I'm curious. If you interrupt him and redirect him, how does he respond? Does he have other repetitive rituals?

↑ Tila ↓

Mon, Oct 27 2008, 3:58 pm

clarissa, I thought about redirecting him, but he still has to go back. To get him to stop, I will read outloud from whatever it is I am reading at the same time. I wish I knew what is going on in his head. I THINK its OCD. Ther is no other repetive stuff.

↑ Clarissa ↓

Mon, Oct 27 2008, 4:58 pm

That's what I wanted to know. I think it might be worth it to seek out a specialist and see if you get a diagnosis of OCD. That's what it sounds like to me, and he can be helped.

bubby ↓

Mon, Oct 27 2008, 5:10 pm

Does he do this in school or other places? Could it be he's exceptionally bright & he sort of gets stuck in a groove while his mind is off somewhere else...a bit like a robot?

Or (don't want to scare you) could these be mini-siezures/blackouts? I think you should start with a pediatric neurologist. Get referrals & recommendations. Talk to his teacher, also.

↑ Clarissa

Mon, Oct 27 2008, 5:19 pm

Bubby, I have a friend whose son has seizures. In OP's son's case, the behavior just happens when he's reading. Wouldn't it be happening at other random times -- relaxing, eating dinner, conversing, etc., if he was seizing?

↑ bubby

Mon, Oct 27 2008, 5:47 pm

I don't know, I'm not a doctor, but I read somewhere about a child who was having hundreds of mini-blackouts a day that weren't noticeable, but the child somehow got stuck in whatever was going on at the time. I forget how they were discovered...maybe a CAT scan, or something.

I really should pay more attention to these articles.

↑ Tila

Wed, Oct 29 2008, 4:08 pm

Not just when he is reading. He needs confirmation ALMOST to as if I was not paying attention to see if I am listening. Its as if he were a vinyl recod stuck in a groove. We are going to his ped soon.

mandksima

Wed, Oct 29 2008, 4:51 pm

My son used to start his sentence with "Ima" and then start over countless times until he figured out what he wanted to say. It drove me crazy because I would look at him, waiting to hear what he had to say and it would take him a good few minutes to spit it out.

He's gotten so much better now that I forgot until now that he used to do that. Part of his issue was a delay in speech development so that is probably what made him do that. He knew what he wanted to say but couldn't formulate the words as quickly.

My son is not reading so well yet so I'm not sure if he'd do the repeating lines thing too but he does draw picture after picture of the same thing and then crumples up all of them except the last because it wasn't perfect. He can go through 50 sheets of paper in one drawing session (yes, we use scrap paper for this reason.) I'm just thinking part of the repeating a sentence over thing might also be because he's a perfectionist and feels he's just not getting it right. If you feel that is like him, mention it to your doctor/therapist.