OCD anyone?

If you ask my friends or family, there are some things that I am a bit OCD about. I like pictures hanging straight. I like straight lines and things in rows. I like when groups of things match and there aren't any odd pieces out. I like that everything has a home and is organized. I don't work well when things aren't like this. I usually have to fix them before I think about anything else. Well...I have a student who is similar, but more extreme than myself.

This student, Dustin*, is a bit OCD. I don't say that in a diagnosed sort of way, but in the same way that I am, just worse. Dustin is the type of student who has to have things just right. He is unable to work at his desk (or anywhere) if there is something there that doesn't belong. For example, last week I put a paper on his desk that needed to be finished from the day before. I wrote on it, "Please Complete!" We began our morning math and I see Dustin walking around the classroom.

Me: "Dustin, where are you going?"

D: "I need to put this away."

Me: "Okay." (not thinking about the paper he is carrying)

Later in the day, I'm looking through the grading bin to see what I can work on and I find the paper that I had put on Dustin's desk earlier in the day. However, it still wasn't complete. I return it to Dustin's desk for the second time that day. As we began another lesson, Dustin is clearing his desk of all unnecessary items and he finds the paper. He seems not sure of what to do with it again and since everything needs a place, he turns it in to the grading bin AGAIN, still incomplete. Now I've figured out that he didn't like it on his desk because that's not what he was supposed to be working on. This time, I did not immediately return it to his desk. I saved it until I had time to talk to him about how to finish this paper. This time he put it in his folder which had it's own place inside his desk. In fact, his desk is the most perfectly organized 4th grade desk I've ever seen! Everything has its place and no work can be done until that is done.

Dustin is also a student I sit with very close at writing time. Here are a few comments from him:

- "That /g/ looks a little dark. I need to fix it."

- "That /s/ looks to big. I need to fix it."

- "I skipped too much space there. Let me go back."

- "Why did I write that /f/ so small?"

If we ever get through a writing composition, at least it will all be the same shade of lead, the same size, and with the same amount of space in between each word.