Graphic Novel for Teens with OCD | Interview with Jason Adam Katzenstein Jason Adam Katzenstein gets it. He gets the struggle of what it feels like to have OCD and he gets the fear that comes along with trying to crush it. Luckily for the OCD community, Jason is a popular and gifted cartoonist who decided to take his personal and vulnerable story and […]
4 Simple Steps to Help Kids Self-Regulate with Lauren Spigelmyer Many of our kids have a hard time self-regulating. Just like other skills, we often have to teach our kids how to successfully handle their difficult emotions. This can be especially hard for kids that have anxiety and OCD. When you are a child who already struggles with hyperarousal, it doesn’t take much to throw […]
Handling Overwhelm When Parenting Kids with Anxiety or OCD It can get pretty overwhelming parenting a child with anxiety or OCD. But this is a marathon not a sprint and burn out isn’t an option. Overwhelm is an issue we all deal with throughout this journey. It is something that can creep up on you without any warning. So how do we as parents dial […]
How to Help an Anxious Kid Wear a Mask Masks are a struggle for many kids, but if your child has anxiety or OCD it can be a much BIGGER struggle. This could be due to many reasons. Maybe they feel claustrophobic. Maybe they have sensory issues. Or maybe they have social anxiety and it seems embarrassing. Regardless of what the struggle is the end […]
Starting Online Schooling? How to Handle Difficult Behaviors with Wendy Bertagnole The pandemic has turned much of our world upside down. And now entering into the next school year, everything is different for our kids. If you are entering the new world of online schooling, you are not alone. Many of us are going into uncharted territory this school year. That is why I brought […]
Important Highlights from the 2020 OCD Conference for Parents The International OCD Foundation’s annual conference was cancelled along with pretty much everything else in 2020. But the online version did not disappoint, offering some great takeaways for parents raising kids with OCD. In the latest episode of the AT Parenting Survival Podcast I highlight some areas parents need to be updated on, if they haven’t […]
Understanding Magical Thinking in OCD OCD symptoms and behaviors can look vastly different in each person. You might have a child who has compulsions centered around contamination while another person might have a child with compulsions around magical thinking. You might have a child with both! I always tell parents that you want to be well versed in all the many ways OCD can pop […]
Helping Anxious Kids Who Crumble Under Pressure Anxious kids crumble under pressure for a variety of reasons. They might worry about deadlines and school work. They might worry about the social pressures of being called on or being watched. They might fear being less than perfect or being worse than others. They might have difficulties making decisions, worried about picking the wrong choice. In this […]
Preparing Our Anxious Kids for an Uncertain School Year There is one thing for sure, next school year is completely uncertain. Will kids go back to school? Will they wear masks? Will school be online or in person? There are more questions than answers when we look ahead. So how do you help an anxious child who craves consistency and stability when reality is anything […]
Ways Parents Can Help Kids with Selective Mutism with Anna Biavati-Smith “He’s just shy, he’ll grow out of it.” That’s what many parents hear when they voice their concerns about a child with undiagnosed Selective Mutism. Selective Mutism is often missed or completely misunderstood. The sad part is with early treatment, kids with Selective Mutism can make great progress. That is why I brought on […]
Inside the Mind of A Child with Emetophobia | The Fear of Throwing Up One of the most common anxiety and OCD themes is the fear of throwing up, also known Emetophobia. It impacts kids of all ages, and has the power to completely debilitate a person. In this week’s, AT Parenting Survival Podcast I talk to my own eight-year-old daughter about her struggles with […]
Teaching Our Kids to Be Kind Even When Others Aren’t If a group of children were being mean, would your child feel brave enough to be kind? Being kind isn’t always an easy thing to do. Sometimes it can be a scary thing to do, even a brave thing to do. In this week’s AT Parenting Survival Podcast, I talk about ways to help foster […]
What to Do When Therapy isn’t Enough for a Child with Anxiety or OCD Your child needs help, but therapy isn’t cutting it. Maybe it’s because she refuses to go or perhaps it’s because her issues are just too intense for outpatient therapy. What’s a parent supposed to do when the help isn’t helping? Outpatient therapy is where the road starts, but not where it […]
How to Handle the Stress of Raising a Child with Anxiety or OCD Raising a child with anxiety or OCD should come with a warning label, “Warning: May be hazardous to your health.” Being a rock to a child that is often flailing in the sea of chaos, can be draining to even the best of us. It can wear you down, destroy your sleep […]
Understanding Emetophobia, The Fear of Throwing Up with Chrissie Hodges Parents often grapple with what may have caused their child to become so deathly afraid of throwing up. They come up with theories. Maybe it was the time she saw her cousin throw up? Or maybe it was the time she got sick in the car? Or maybe it was the time she got food […]
