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How do I help my son

Submitted by an LD OnLine user on

I’m new here, so I’ll just start at the beginning. My five year old son is in kindergarten. When he was three he was diagnosed as ADHD. In preschool he had severe behavior problems and I was asked to remove him from school. This year, he is on Strattera. At the beginning of the school year, he seemed to be doing fine. As the school year progressed he became more aggressive, so we adjusted his medication. This has not helped. In fact, it has made it worse. He’s behind in reading and letter and word recognition. He’s also behind in math. My school has a SAT team that has begun to meet to discuss ways to help my son. So far nothing has worked. They have now isolated him from the other students because of his aggression. The other parents have called the school and asked that my son be kept away from their children. While I agree that someone who is aggressive should be kept away from the other students, I’m concerned for his social development. The other parents and students don’t understand what’s going on and that we’re trying as best we can to help him. The other students tease and taunt him and agitate him until he lashes out. I don’t know what else to do. We’re trying to get him assessed for bi-polar as well. He has a family history of it and his behavior leads us to believe he is bi-polar. The next step for him at school is special education based on his behavior. I’m afraid of the stereotype that will leave him with. Any advice would be helpful. Thank you

Submitted by scifinut on Fri, 02/22/2008 - 11:13 PM

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Definitely follow through with the evaluation for other disorders. If you need more info on Pediatric Bipolar, I have lots of resources.

As for the school, they need to place him in the least restrictive SAFE environment. They should also be working on positive interventions for his behaviors and helping him learn skills to deal with mean kids. (I know, easier said than done.) He should have a 1:1 so that he can be safer in the classroom. The teachers should also be working with the other kids to keep the teasing down.

((Hugs))

Submitted by dawn2000k on Sat, 02/23/2008 - 2:02 AM

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Please don’t worry about the stereotype. My child was worried too until he realized how many of his friends were in “SPED class”. It’s really not like it was when we were kids. I agree about the bipolar evaluation. Violence is a symptom with this disorder. Then again, I’m not a doctor, just a concerned parent. Best wishes.

Dawn

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