CBT and school

[tygertoo]

My DS (8) has OCD as one of his major PANDAS symptoms and he is currently going to the University of Michigan for CBT - however it is difficult to get him there and not lose 1/2 a day traveling - so I was wondering if anyone has been successful in getting the school to provide CBT for their child.

 

He is currently not in special education (academically he is very bright) and only is in speech; however if we could do CBT at school a few days a week then we feel that it would benefit him greatly.

 

Thanks everyone - looking for any feedback

 

Karen

[Luna2]

Our psychologist structured a CBT reward system that could be used by the teacher. I made behavior dollars that could be exchanged for rewards at the end of the week. We also adapted with OT suggestions. Let me know if you need more info. Joanne

[tygertoo]

Our psychologist structured a CBT reward system that could be used by the teacher. I made behavior dollars that could be exchanged for rewards at the end of the week. We also adapted with OT suggestions. Let me know if you need more info. Joanne

 

 

 

Thanks Joanne! I was hoping to get the social worker at the school to do individual CBT with him a couple times a week outside of class. He is able to keep everything under control for the most part in class (we had issues in 1st grade - germ issues) but things have gotten better since then. Last year never heard of any significant issues from his teacher. When I told her about his OCD and tics she said she had no clue....

 

but I think that the more frequent CBT at school would be helpful overall...I just don't know how much of a fight we are in for. Luckily my husband is a special ed teacher in the district so maybe we can get some movement on this. I just wanted to hear if anyone else was able to get this accomplished.

[tygertoo]

Our psychologist structured a CBT reward system that could be used by the teacher. I made behavior dollars that could be exchanged for rewards at the end of the week. We also adapted with OT suggestions. Let me know if you need more info. Joanne

 

 

 

Thanks Joanne! I was hoping to get the social worker at the school to do individual CBT with him a couple times a week outside of class. He is able to keep everything under control for the most part in class (we had issues in 1st grade - germ issues) but things have gotten better since then. Last year never heard of any significant issues from his teacher. When I told her about his OCD and tics she said she had no clue....

 

but I think that the more frequent CBT at school would be helpful overall...I just don't know how much of a fight we are in for. Luckily my husband is a special ed teacher in the district so maybe we can get some movement on this. I just wanted to hear if anyone else was able to get this accomplished.

 

 

However I am interested in the behavior dollars....i am thinking that I would implement that at home. Would love more info on that!!

[Joan Pandas Mom]

Hi Karen,

We were able to cover my son's absences and tartiness through his IEP. About 4 days a week we were late because the compulsions took too long. The school also worked with me in regard to his homework. At times he would try for hours to complete an assignment, so when that would happen, he was graded on effort through my discretion. It helped a lot. It helped relieve some stress trying to get out the door, having to wait for compulsion after compulsion.

[MomWithOCDSon]

Joanne's idea sounds like a great one, though, I would be VERY surprised if you are able to get the school psychologist to actually provide CBT during school hours. Our school psychologist, social worker and special ed teachers barely know what OCD is, let alone how to treat it. We lucked out with one special ed teacher who had worked at a therapeutic day school prior to coming over to our district, so he actually knew what OCD was and how it could manifest. But even he was very ineffective at implementing CBT techniques on the spot; rather, he had a tendency to try and calm DS by enabling some of the compulsions (cleaning things), just to keep the peace during the school day and prevent DS from spinning out.

 

Additionally, I think it would be a very rare school that would provide your child these services without an IEP in place, as the IEP is the function by which the school gets government funding for providing special therapy services like those.

 

If you can work with your child's teacher(s) with CBT-based reward systems and programs for managing the behaviors, just the shere practice at management should help at least some.

 

Our DS13 has had a 504 for OCD since 3rd grade, and moved up to an IEP last year. With the 504, he just had accommodations and, on a case-by-case basis, we were able to get his teachers to work with us and him with some of the CBT-oriented processes. With the IEP, meanwhile, he gets two social work sessions each week, but one of them is a "social group" session with two other boys who also have some issues, an effort to enhance each of their abilities in terms of social interactions, and the other session is pretty much just an opportunity for DS to talk, bend her ear, etc.

 

After years of CBT and ERP therapy, I've come to appreciate that this therapy isn't easy stuff and it can take a special person to do it correctly. It would be a terrific surprise if the school social worker has the necessary skill set, but I would also think that would be a very rare case, as well, since her focus is not OCD kids in particular, but also learning disabilities, ADD, ADHD, ODD, etc., you know?

[tygertoo]

Joanne's idea sounds like a great one, though, I would be VERY surprised if you are able to get the school psychologist to actually provide CBT during school hours. Our school psychologist, social worker and special ed teachers barely know what OCD is, let alone how to treat it. We lucked out with one special ed teacher who had worked at a therapeutic day school prior to coming over to our district, so he actually knew what OCD was and how it could manifest. But even he was very ineffective at implementing CBT techniques on the spot; rather, he had a tendency to try and calm DS by enabling some of the compulsions (cleaning things), just to keep the peace during the school day and prevent DS from spinning out.

 

Additionally, I think it would be a very rare school that would provide your child these services without an IEP in place, as the IEP is the function by which the school gets government funding for providing special therapy services like those.

 

If you can work with your child's teacher(s) with CBT-based reward systems and programs for managing the behaviors, just the shere practice at management should help at least some.

 

Our DS13 has had a 504 for OCD since 3rd grade, and moved up to an IEP last year. With the 504, he just had accommodations and, on a case-by-case basis, we were able to get his teachers to work with us and him with some of the CBT-oriented processes. With the IEP, meanwhile, he gets two social work sessions each week, but one of them is a "social group" session with two other boys who also have some issues, an effort to enhance each of their abilities in terms of social interactions, and the other session is pretty much just an opportunity for DS to talk, bend her ear, etc.

 

After years of CBT and ERP therapy, I've come to appreciate that this therapy isn't easy stuff and it can take a special person to do it correctly. It would be a terrific surprise if the school social worker has the necessary skill set, but I would also think that would be a very rare case, as well, since her focus is not OCD kids in particular, but also learning disabilities, ADD, ADHD, ODD, etc., you know?

 

 

I think we are going to try and get the school to pay for the social worker to take CBT training. There have been some unusual things approved by our school district for some kids (music therapy, laptops paid by the school etc)..so I think that CBT is not out of the question. We are having his therapist write a letter and also I am bringing journal articles showing how PANDA kids w/ OCD respond very well with continued CBT.

 

I will keep you posted if we get our district to do this. I am still hoping to hear of a district out there that has done this.

[airial95]

My son is younger, and not in school yet - but we've already begun the process with our school district to get create his plan and have it in place when he starts pre-K. He may also be eligible for a pre-K3 program through the school district for kids with learning/behavioral disabilities.

 

We have a full behavior assessment with their team the first week of September. My understanding, is if he qualifies, he will get CBT services at school in the pre-K3 program.

 

We've just started this process, so I'm still unsure of a lot of things. But I'll keep you posted.

[Megs_Mom]

 

I think we are going to try and get the school to pay for the social worker to take CBT training. There have been some unusual things approved by our school district for some kids (music therapy, laptops paid by the school etc)..so I think that CBT is not out of the question. We are having his therapist write a letter and also I am bringing journal articles showing how PANDA kids w/ OCD respond very well with continued CBT.

 

I will keep you posted if we get our district to do this. I am still hoping to hear of a district out there that has done this.

 

If you get your school district to do this, I will be VERY impressed! If you want an idea for how to have the social worker to take a really good CBT/ERP training that is specifically for OCD (CBT is a pretty broad category), then try this website for the IOCDF - they offer training institutes quite a few times a year. http://www.ocfoundation.org/BTTI.aspx.

 

http://www.ocfoundation.org/uploadedFiles/BTTI_Handbook_and_Program_Description.pdf This is a description of the program. I think the current training is sold out, but you may also want to call & talk to them about when the next one is.

 

You go girl!