How to Help Young Children with OCD

AT Parenting Survival | Raising Kids with OCD & Anxiety

Natasha Daniels: Child Therapist, Child Anxiety and OCD Expert, Parenting Coach and Parent

Parenting, Ocd Therapy, Ocd In Children, Ocd, Anxiety, Child Anxiety, Child Ocd, Kids & Family, Mental Health, Education, Health & Fitness, Self-improvement

4.8 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 22 September 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

OCD can show up much earlier than most people realize — and often in ways parents don’t immediately recognize. For younger kids, compulsions might appear before they can even describe intrusive thoughts. You might see rigidity, controlling behaviors, repetitive actions, or big meltdowns over things that don’t seem to make sense.

In this episode, I’ll walk you through how OCD can look in young children and share practical strategies for helping them. From personifying OCD as “Mr. Bossy,” to creating superheroes who fight back, to slowly reducing accommodations and even gamifying the process — I’ll give you tools to make OCD something your child can actually face.

If you’ve ever wondered how to support a younger child with OCD, this episode will give you a roadmap to start.

Also, check out my new children’s picture book to help children with OCD: Chloe and the Bossy Cloud.

***

This podcast episode is sponsored by NOCD. NOCD provides online OCD therapy in the US, UK, Australia and Canada. To schedule your free 15 minute consultation to see if NOCD is a right fit for you and your child, go to

https://go.treatmyocd.com/at_parenting

This podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be used to replace the guidance of a qualified professional.

Parents, do you need more support?

🌸 Here’s are resources I offer parents 👇🏻❤️

Online classes for parents raising kids with anxiety and OCD:

https://atparentingsurvivalschool.com

Join the AT Parenting Community (A membership designed to support parents raising kids with anxiety or OCD):

https://atparentingcommunity.com

Take one of my FREE webinars:

www.Natashadaniels.com/webinars

Check out my books:

www.Natashadaniels.com/books

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http://www.facebook.com/ATparentingSurvival

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http://www.twitter.com/Parentingsurvival

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the AT Parenting Survival Podcast, where you get help and guidance through the chaos of parenting a child with anxiety or OCD.
0:10.8	This show is for educational purposes and is not intended to replace the guidance of a qualified professional.
0:17.4	Here's your host, child therapist, Natasha Daniels.
0:21.3	Well, hello there and welcome to another episode of the AT Parenting Surveillance.
0:25.9	Today we're going to talk all about specifically how to help young children with OCD.
0:32.3	So many people do not talk about the young kids with OCD.
0:42.1	And a lot of times, mental health professionals and professionals in general will say they cannot diagnose and certainly cannot treat very young children with OCD.
0:46.7	And to me, that's a complete shame because in my two decades of private practice, I saw so many young children. I'm talking about children
0:57.1	younger than six. Some people think that when I'm talking about young children, I mean
1:01.8	younger than 10. Most people know that kids younger than 10 can definitely be diagnosed and
1:08.6	treated with OCD. But when we get into the six and younger,
1:13.3	that becomes the muddy waters where more often than not, people are told no. Well, I'm not going
1:19.5	to tell you no. I'm going to tell you exactly what signs to look for and what approaches to take
1:24.5	because the younger, our kids get those skills, the better of their
1:28.6	long-term prognosis. Before I get all riled up, I want to thank No CD for sponsoring this episode.
1:36.6	No CD offers affordable, effective, convenient therapy, and they're available in the U.S.
1:41.0	and outside the U.S. And you can schedule your free 15-minute consultation to see if no CD is the right fit for you and your child.
1:48.7	Just go to treat myoced.com.
1:51.1	That's treat my OCD.com.
1:53.3	And I'll leave a link in the show notes as well.
1:55.6	So let's jump into this today.
1:57.6	I want to talk about why people think OCD can't be diagnosed at a young
	...

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