Regressive behavior questions

[bgbarnes]

This may seem silly but can people please describe what they mean by regressive behaviors.

My son has been baby talking almost all day and definitely not acting like an 8 year old-

except when he is playing video games- he is normal. Is the talking alone enough to be considered regressive behaviors?

He is super sensitive and finally had his meltdown about 40 minutes ago that I knew was coming for hours.

Just trying to get a full understanding of what other people mean when they say that.

Brandy

[MomWithOCDSon]

This may seem silly but can people please describe what they mean by regressive behaviors.

My son has been baby talking almost all day and definitely not acting like an 8 year old-

except when he is playing video games- he is normal. Is the talking alone enough to be considered regressive behaviors?

He is super sensitive and finally had his meltdown about 40 minutes ago that I knew was coming for hours.

Just trying to get a full understanding of what other people mean when they say that.

Brandy

I'd say, from my perspective, that's exactly what we mean by regressive behaviors: not acting their age, not performing age-appropriately, toddler-style meltdowns at the age of 12, extreme separation anxiety well beyond the age at which that is standard among the peer set, etc.

 

Sometimes, it can be more subtle, too. We only have one child, so though we think we have a good measure of DS by virtue of his friends and our friends' children as benchmarks for comparison, we still miss quite a bit, it seems. Dr. K. commented in our first consultation in person with him that our DS seemed very dependent on DH and myself, atypically so for a 13-year-old. He observed that when he asked DS a question that had some ambiguity to it, DS would turn to us for us to help him give an appropriate answer. Not what your standard 13-year-old will do, says Dr. K., and from what I know of other 13yo's , I would have to agree.

 

Especially when in the throws of an OCD "fit" . . . trying to fight off a compulsion he knows he shouldn't yield to . . . our DS can really let fly with the squeaky baby voice talk! It is very dramatic. I always thought it was particular to him until I saw a "Primetime Live" episode on kids with OCD, and they featured a teenage girl in a severe OCD period who spoke exactly the same way, while in her therapist's office, no less! Since it can be emblematic of OCD, I would assume it could also be emblematic of PANDAS behaviors.

[saidie10]

This may seem silly but can people please describe what they mean by regressive behaviors.

My son has been baby talking almost all day and definitely not acting like an 8 year old-

except when he is playing video games- he is normal. Is the talking alone enough to be considered regressive behaviors?

He is super sensitive and finally had his meltdown about 40 minutes ago that I knew was coming for hours.

Just trying to get a full understanding of what other people mean when they say that.

Brandy

 

Hi Brandy. I would definitely call that regressive behavior. Anything that is not normal for them to do, especially not normal for someone to be doing at their age would probably be considered the regressive behavior they talk about in PANDAS. If someone else can add that would be good too!