Tidy Tim

Get to Know Me: OCD

Louise Lightfoot, Catherine Hicks

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2019
• eBook ISBN: 9781351164580
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

The 'Get to Know Me' series is aimed at children with additional needs and those who support them in the classroom. Developed by child psychologist Dr Louise Lightfoot and illustrated by Catherine Hicks, the resources in this series include activities specific to anxiety, depression and Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). This book, Tidy Tim, has been designed to support the individual child but also to be used in whole class teaching, to encourage an empathetic and inclusive environment.

In this book, we meet Tidy Tim, an octopus with many arms but not many friends. His swirly whirly feelings make him spend all day cleaning and tidying his house instead of going out and making friends. But one day, Tidy Tim gets himself into a terrible tangle and realises he needs the help of Jenni the Jellyfish, who helps him untangle his arms and his feelings.

This book was written with children with OCD in mind, providing an opportunity to relate to Tim's thoughts, feelings, behaviours and experiences. However, children with a range of needs may benefit from the story. The book is written in a narrative style, so it does not use diagnostic labels and is not intended for this purpose. Instead the focus is on creating a common language which children can understand and use to make sense of how they are feeling.

A practitioner guidebook (ISBN 978-0-8153-4948-8) and draw along version (ISBN 978-0-8153-4951-8) are also available.

Tidy Tim – A picture book story

Deep, deep down in the ocean

Where squishy fishes swim,

Lived many different creatures

And an octopus called Tim.

Tim wasn’t very friendly

Or blessed with many charms,

But Tim had lots of other skills

As well as lots of arms.

Tim was super organised

And always had a plan;

His house was very ordered

And always spick and span.

One day a knock came to his door,

He heard a small voice say,

“Hello, Tim – are you in there?

Oh, won’t you come and play?”

He looked out of his window

“It’s me,” a voice declared.

“It’s Jenni the jelly fish! Please come play!”

But Tim just stood and stared.

“I’m busy,” Tim replied at once

“I’ve lots of things to do

The house is very messy

I have no time for you”

Jenni asked Tim every day,

Though he never once came out

She’d ask him still, just in case,

And so he wouldn’t feel left out.

Jenni turned and swam away

And Tim felt sad and mean,

But then the buzzing built inside

And Tim began to clean.

The swirling feelings grew inside

His arms began to whiz,

He rushed and raced about the house

In a swirly twirly tiz.

He used his arms to wash and mop

And squish and splash and jangle;

But Tim was such a whirlwind

It ended in a tangle.

His arms were in a muddle;

Poor Tim let out a groan.

He’d tied himself all up in knots

And he was all alone.

He wriggled and he squiggled

And then let out a yelp;

He’d only made it worse

He knew he needed help.

He couldn’t fix this by himself

No matter how he tried,

He’d need a friend to help him

He’d have to go outside.

Tim found Jenni playing,

She helped him right away.

“I’ll help,” she said, “with one request,

That afterwards you play.”

“But everything’s a mess,” said Tim,

“I can’t forget it’s there.”

“Well, how about we don’t,” she said,

“But right now let’s not care.

“Let’s just play together

Let’s splash and play about;

And then when playtime’s over

We’ll go and sort it out.

“And I can come and help you

That’s if you want a f...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Series
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Tidy Tim – A picture book story
• Tidy Tim – Text only version