5 year old out of control

tmriley

New Member
maybe you guys could help me with a few suggestion. My son is five and he does some weird things i'm concenered about. He talks about drinking gasoline, likes to smell it. Talks about killing his dad, because he thinks he is too mean, he beats himself in the head with his hand or anything thats around him, he thinks everything is a big joke, put remote batteries in his mouth one time and i asked him why he was doing it and he said he wanted to poison himself, i was taking him to a specialist and she said he was just dealing with angry issues! so what do you guys think? Thanks you, Tammy
 

tiredmommy

Well-Known Member
I think you need to have him receive a psychiatric assessment, and asap. This sort of violent thinking coupled with violent acts screams for immediate intervention. You need to document every occurrence: who was involved, what happened, where it happened, why it happened, and how it happened. What other non-violent things are going on? How is he in school, with peers and your other child?
 

tmriley

New Member
tiredmommy- He does really well with my other son. He has only said one strange thing and what happened was: my 8 month old(younger at the time) was on the floor sitting and My 5 year old was sitting on the sofa and he made the comment that his brain was telling him to hurt Christian(8 month old). other than that one time he does really well. We have now stopped taking him to the p-doctor office that we were going to, they are the ones that said he was just dealing with angry issues. She mainly made me feel like she wasn't taking us seriously. He goes to see his Peditrican next friday, and this is his first time being seen by this doctor for this, and he said he would test him again for certain things.. thanks for responding back...
 

SRL

Active Member
I think even on the General Board most will give you the same advice: seek out psychiatric care with someone who is going to listen. A doctor who blows off concerns such as these to anger issues with no treatment suggestions isn't the doctor for you.

Does he sniff at a lot of stuff and/or put a lot of things in his mouth?
 

tmriley

New Member
srl- i haven't seen him sniff alot of things, i've had to get after him before because he would mess around with the air freshners, but that is about it. But Yes he is always putting stuff in his month, sometimes worser than my 8 month old. he is also very, very desructive. We are even having second thoghts about buying him Christmas toys, because he can have them no longer than a week and he's managed to do something to them. For his birthday he had got the steam thomas train, which he really really wanted and the next thing i know he is bringing the train to me and he's done put soap in the part where the water goes for the steam....
 

SRL

Active Member
If he's very oral like this you will want to check out a condition called Sensory Processing Disorder or Sensory Integration Dysfunction. Children with Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) have different sensory needs than typical individuals. It can also mimic ADHD in that some kids with Sensory Integration Disorder (SID) seek out sensory stimulation purposely because they need it or it feels good to them. For instance, a child might spin or swing or jump constantly.
http://www.tsbvi.edu/seehear/fall97/sensory.htm

Does he play with toys in what you'd consider an unusual manner? Or does he do a lot of playing with unusual objects (ie sticks, rocks) or household objects?
 

tmriley

New Member
really to be honest he doesn't really lkie to play with his toys all that much, we have to beg him to go play with them, he prefers to be in the living room with us all the time. no, i don't think he plays with household items alot.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
I'd do two things.
First I'd see a neuropsychologist to see if he has any underlying neurological problems then a Child Psychiatrist, with that MD. I'd be very concerned about him and what he's saying to you and how he's behaving--I do not believe he's a BAD boy--I think he probably has one or more disorder that drives his behavior. When he says "my brain told to me..." I am thinking he could be hearing voices and sniffing stuff and not playing with toys is commonly on the autism spectrum. Could be many things going on or more than one.
Are there any psychiatric problems or substance abuse on the family tree? Any "quirky" or strange relatives that were never diagnosed? I'd want a total evaluation, not just an off-the-cuff opinion. Neuropsychs are good at evaluations.
 

SRL

Active Member
Angela, the playing with and/or collecting rocks, sticks, household objects in itself isn't something that would be of concern in a child without any other issues. Some kids just aren't attracted to regular kids toys and that's perfectly fine! In a child with issues it's something to watch for because it can be a red flag for the Autism Spectrum Disorders, especially if they are doing a lot of lining them up in lines or formations. It's important to look at the early play behaviors especially for kids who might have higher funtioning Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) such as Asperger's, who are riding the fence diagnostically, or who are atypical in their presentation. These kids so often are passed off as bright but difficult and miss out on early intervention.

Again, there may be other explanations for unusual behaviors but when a parent is doing the homework they want to look for behaviors such as these listed below:

2) Does/did the child
a. Favor objects for play that aren’t typically used as toys by their peers (such as wheels, sticks, magnet letters, etc.)?
b. Seem fascinated or obsessed by objects/topics that aren’t typical for kids of their age (such as
numbers, the alphabet, words, math, geography, mechanical things such as air conditioners or vacuum cleaners, things with motors, etc)?
c. Play “differently” with toys or household objects (such as spin them, line them up in straight lines, set them up in formations, etc.)?
d. Exhibit weak or unusual pretend play skills such as
-act out memorized scenes from books/films/TV/DVD instead of
creating situations and dialogue
-move toy trains around but not pretend to be the engineer/go places/pick up passengers
-arrange pretend people or action figures but not create imaginary situations with them or have them interact with each other, etc?
e. Display behaviors and/or routines that seem unusual or quirky?
 

susiestar

Roll With It
It may be helpful to you to go to the archives on this site and start a Parent Report. This will help you with every person you talk to about your child.

Hugs,

Susie
 

susiestar

Roll With It
I popped in over here this morning and reread your post. I want to encourage you to document everything you can.

Please be very much aware when your 5yo is with Christian. The comments about his brain telling him to hurt his little brother are alarming. I don't want to scare you, but some of our kids are very violent with siblings, no matter the ages. My son was so violent with my daughter that by the time he was 7 we couldn't leave them unsupervised long enough to go to the bathroom. The same sex child came into the restroom with us, no matter what. If we didn't my daughter (younger than son) had bruises or scrapes.

I don't think any of our kids is purposely "bad", but sometimes they and their siblings need to be protected from their behaviors.

As far as Christmas presents, I could see some inexpensive presents, but not skipping it all together for him. He would be very hurt by that, and I am sure that is not the goal. Even if you did nothing for either child, he would know and be hurt. Christmas is such a big deal in school, television, and the rest of the world that he would be hurt no matter what.

Hugs,

Susie
 
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