Rank order ?

[JAG10]

My dd11 exhibits this need to rank order things....not in a "line them up" object-fashion, but by preference. I always thought it was her being needy, always needing to compare "Who was a cuter baby, Mommy? Who had chubbier cheeks? " And there is definitely a needy component to it, just wondering if it is a flavor of OCD as well? She questions me a lot about my preferences and then tries to corral me into rank ordering them, not just in comparison to her sister either.

 

An example is something like this:

 

dd-What's your favorite meat, Mommy?

Me-I like veal.

dd-What else?

Me-I also like Daddy's flat iron steak and blue cheese pinwheels

dd-I like pot roast, do you like pot roast?

Me-Sure

dd-Which do you like more pot roast or veal? Pot roast or pinwheels? Veal or pinwheels?

 

And on and on it goes until I say Enough or We're moving on now!

 

She has never been an orderly OCD kind of kid, quite the opposite in that when symptoms were bad, she was driven to disorganization where her room could be completely tidy and she would just pick items up and move them around, scattered all over the floor, a piece here, another piece there, in a fairly short amount of time, stuff was everywhere with no logic behind why that had occurred. Some of it was hoarding too, all the little scraps and pieces of objects she would destroy to make something "new"..... creative, yes...but in a disordered way.

 

DD11 had her 2nd IVIG last week. Positive signs thus far I would identify as increased cognitive clarity characterized by easier flow to conversation and ideas expressed verbally, quick word retrieval, neat handwriting and flow of written expression, more independence with homework, longer periods of time attending to tasks w/o needing redirection. Negative signs have been a slight uptick in OCDish tendencies (albeit, I admit being cornered about pot roast is very small potatoes) and some increased mood lability, but I wonder if that is related to increased awareness and verbalization too? She did have a bad headache and vomited the day after, which was totally my fault as I forgot to give her the prednisone that morning. My husband called me at work, I told him what I forgot, he gave it to her and she was fine about an hour later. She has remained headache/nausea free since. With the increased ease and willingness to communicate comes her sharing her feelings of being out of sync with her peers and feeling not as quick or smart as them. I know it is actually a good sign, to not be oblivious, to let her cry on my shoulder and to then reassure her we will fill-in whatever holes have occurred from her being sick; failure or giving up are not options, we will move whatever mountains or molehills necessary, one bucket of soil at a time.

[Kayanne]

I'm really happy you're seeing improvements--I hope it continues

 

My PANDAS daughter does this from time to time. I've never considered it to be OCD, but you can bet that I will pay closer attention next time she does. You just raised a flag for me.

 

Something else just came to me...My daughter likes to know where things came from. "Who gave us this toy? Where did we buy this?" Has anyone else seen this same thing?

 

However, overall, I don't see how doing this once in a while would be considered a critical level of OCD. Her life is just not disrupted right now, so the little things like this I feel that I have to kinda accept them as part of who she is.

 

At her worst, she didn't look like a typical OCD case either. We've discussed this before, and she had definitely more of a cognitive fog and/or shut down/ADD/autistic presentation.

Edited February 11, 2011 by Kayanne

[JAG10]

Right? I didn't know if it was a needy, annoying thing...or more

 

With my girl, a lot of it centers around "favorites."

 

She tells Sonic (our kitten) he is her favorite boy and her Valentine.

 

dd11-"Weeeell, Daddy's my favorite boy. Do you love any other boys Mommy?"

Me-"Grandfather"

dd11-"Right, first Daddy, then Grandfather, then YOU, Sonic."

 

Why can't telling the darn cat you love him be good enough?

 

Ditto on the "origin" questions. No big deal in isolation, but curious in totality. You're right, it may just become part of them. I don't let it go too far before I let her know it's annoying. If I don't, who will?

Edited February 11, 2011 by JAG10

[Dedee]

Oh yes, my daughter is big on that. I do believe it is a type of OCD behavior. She doesn't exhibit "traditional" OCD behaviors like my son did. Hers are harder to pinpoint but when you start looking at it all together you realize it is definitely OCD. She always wants to know who I love more, her or one of the other kids. She will ask which of the pets is my favorite. Then she will ask if I love her more than our cat or dog or whatever. Always wanting to know in what order I love everyone. I always try to not rank at anytime. It's a type of constant reassurance which is typical OCD. I guess OCD looks different in every child and certainly from boys to girls. She cries alot saying that everyone thinks she is stupid. Of course this isn't true, she has friends and no social problems yet. Her perception is definitely off though. Her emotions are all over the place. Very hard to handle.

 

Glad to hear that IVIG is looking promising for you. We hope to be heading in that direction very soon. Keep us updated.

 

Dedee

[SSS]

Fantastic on the IVIG improvements!

 

Yes, my dd5 does rank- it goes along with her need to be '1st!' Sadly, especially with her little sister. I cannot tell you the number of times I've said:

We are all a family. We all love the same. We are together. (blah, blah, blah)

And she does get 'stuck' on subjects, where she asks questions again, and again, and again- needing reassurance.

[Fixit]

Thanks for sharing and giving insight as to how with healing, awareness of one's self, others and language comes into play.

[Kbossman1]

Wow! I hadn't thought of this as OCD, but my dd7 is really big about rank order. Mommy do you like this one or this one? ALL DAY LONG She will ask me about pictures, colors of my wallet, catalogs are a joke....I'm sure you understand. Which do you like better, and after that which one do you like 2nd? and so on. She also always has to be first, and asks or assumes that mommy, daddy, grammee, etc. love HER the most. First is BIG in our house....only to dd7 that is!

[JAG10]

I was trying to think if there was an age, a developmental period of time where all this comparing and cognitive/linguistic ordering would be appropriate, but I haven't found anything yet.

 

Anyway, in our case, I'm sure at 11 years old, it is not developmental.