New here, could use some advice.

[Drained Mama]

Hi, my name is Mallory. I am the mother of 2 wonderful boys. My 5 yr old has ADHD combined type with traits of Asperger's Disorder and my 2 yr old follows everything his big brother does. My husband and I have decided we don't want to try medication; although, we do use Melatonin to help him go to sleep at night (that is all we are willing to do right now as far as that goes). We are working on behavior modification and trying to get the everyone on a set schedule and maybe even some food/nutrition changes. At the moment, I am wanting some ideas on what kinds of foods may be better for him than others. We deal a lot with sudden anger/frustration and aggression. Also, any ideas of what we can do to keep him busy with very little down time, if any. We have noticed during down time is usually when he has a harder time of controlling himself. If he is busy, it is easy to keep him calm. Any advice, ideas or anything is welcome.

 

[BusynMember]

You may want to go to the Natural Treatments board and post there. I would have him evaluated however. You don't have to use medication to get him help, but it requires a diagnosis.

 

[Hound dog]

Hello and welcome to the board.

I didn't do medications with Travis, except for his epilepsy, even though docs tried to push it. In my opinion he didn't need them. I found setting up a fairly strict daily routine very helpful......you know breakfast at a certain time, lunch, ect. It helps if they know what is coming next and that they can count on it. My mom used to think I was crazy because she couldn't figure out how I coped with things that conflicted with the routine. I told her if I couldn't schedule around the routine.....the routine would kick right back in around whatever the event was, like say a doctor appoint. As for activity.........my kids played outside 99 percent of the time unless it was under 50 degrees or raining. Lots of physical activity. lol And yes, I used melatonin for Travis for many years with success.

I also avoided caffiene for the kids and extra sugar, using sweetner in place of sugar when possible. Sugar doesn't aggravate ADHD, a proven fact. However in large amounts it can raise blood sugar so high that trust me you don't want to deal with the behavior associated with the blood sugar crash after the body metabolizes it. lol I did lots of fresh fruits and veggies as snacks and from scratch cooking at home. (not just because of gfgdom......it's just what I do) I think that helped as well.

Clear cut rules with clear consistent consequences for breaking them.

Doesn't eliminate all difficult child behavior, but does minimize it quite a bit.

(((hugs)))

 

[Josie]

I had great success with the girlfriend/CF diet for my daughter. She was diagnosis'ed with ODD and depression but she also had sudden anger and aggression. At one time, a psychiatrist mentioned Intermittent Explosive Disorder for her.

We did do medications at first, but discovered for other reasons that she needed the Gluten Free/Casein Free diet. She was taking Lexapro and we had to keep increasing it. We were about to have to add an antipsychotic for the continued violent behaviour, when we made the diet change. We were able to wean her off the Lexapro and she is fine, 4 1/2 years later. No medications, no need for special parenting, other than her diet issues.

Some people can get by with just doing the girlfriend part, I think. I feel less stressed and have more energy since I am girlfriend. I can have milk and still feel fine, but my kids can not. You can read about the gluten part at www.celiac.com. For milk, you can just read the food label to see if you need to avoid it.

The last time I looked at the celiac board, they even had a separate forum for gluten and behaviour.

 

[nvts]

Hi! I typed this twice but my 22 mo. old has decided that the computer is her arch nemesis for attention!

Since the Aspergers was mentioned, I personally think staying away from some of the adhd medications is a good idea. Some kids on the spectrum have troubles with the stims.

I'm also on the same page as Midwest Mom as far as testing goes. It never hurts to have a neuropsychologist under your belt in order to advocate for your child. As far as the explosiveness, take a look at Ross Greene's "The Explosive Child" - it's comfortably written, not a long drawn out read.

Welcome to the group - make sure you buzz by "The Watercooler" when you feel like chatting about things that DON'T have to do with kids - we have a lot of support over there!

Beth