I have OCD about some things. Everyone's OCD is different. I don't consider it a bad thing. Don't label it. He may have some issues now, don't make fun of them just acknowledge and then move on. You can make them worse. For me it is clean counters, organized stuff and doing things the correct way. Makes me good at my job. I am an investment banker and it makes me very thorough at talking and dealing with clients.

I have OCD and Asperger's.

I have hit-and-run OCD, which is where I fear that I ran someone over while driving. I used to turn around to make sure I didn't hit anyone. I don't do that anymore, but I still check out local news channels to see if there were any hit-and-runs in the areas where I had just been driving.

My hit-and-run-OCD used to be so bad that I called the police on more than one occasion to make sure there weren't any hit-and-runs in the areas where I had been driving. Thankfully, with the proper professional help and medicine (Fluoxetine) my OCD has become much more manageable.

I am a counter and a "by the book" person (there's only 2 ways to do things - the "wrong" way & the way the experts or the majority of people do it.) I've never been formally diagnosed, but I've read, heard, & seen enough to know that I have probably what would be considered a moderate case of OCD in that it doesn't have a major negative impact on my life that I know of (although my DH might disagree since he often likes to blame my request for structure & discipline for his children on my OCD creating "impossible" standards - uh, yeah, THAT'S the "problem".)

Anyway, obviously since I've never been diagnosed I've also never been treated for it, but because I'm aware of it I try my best to make it transparent for my children in hopes that they don't develop it themselves.

My BS 13 has OCD. First, many of us have Obsessive compulsive personality, it's actually quite common, but no a disorder. Then there is Obsessive Compulsive Disorder which is in many ways similar, but very different. With the disorder there is actually a part of the brain that is off, or some say a lesion. It deals with the cortical-basal ganglia-thalamic-cortical neuroanatomical circuit in your brain. (I'm not a doctor, have just researched this to death). All of us have 'normal' anxiety at some point or another. For a person with OCD their anxiety spikes to the extreme right away instead of gradually getting anxious. In order for people with OCD to deal with this they develop rituals to help overcome their anxiety. Some of my sons rituals include(d):.1. brushing his teeth 10 times on each service (front, back, side, etc) - he felt that if he didn't do it precisley this way every day, then he would become sick and die. .2. When he was little he had to hug me 3 times before going to bed, I thought it was cute but later learned that he seriously thought if he didn't do this then I would die etc etc... there are more rituals... later in life this progresses into your typical handwashing, or germophobe etc. Children can take drugs to help alleviate the problem, but it does not cure it. The only treatment known to show any sort of 'cure' if you can call it that, is CBT or Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. So, in the case of my son I would not allow him to hug me ever. He had to overcome his fear to the extreme so that he would see that I would not die. Our psychologist stayed with him in the evenings, you know while he got ready for bed etc. Each day we would switch it up, on Monday he could only brush 2 times on each surface, on Tuesday he couldn't brush at all. Sounds funny, but these little things would give my child huge panic attacks. From a very young age my son would obsess about things, but I never noticed a pattern until I had him tested. He was found above average intelligence in math for example, but he was failing math miserably. It turned out the problem was fixed by taking away his eraser. He wouldn't like the way something looked on the paper after his test were finished, so he'd erase everything. From reading your story I feel like your son is ok. At the ages of 5, 6, & 7 many kids develop rituals to make them feel in control or safe, but it's not OCD. Anyways... I know...long winded..but I hope it was helpful.