laughinbrunette
New Member
Hi~ I am looking for people who will understand and can offer advice. Where to start? My son is 6 and we started him in Kindergarten last year but then pulled him out after Christmas. He was miserable and had a lot of problems. He was having accidents (BM) in his pants, would refuse to transition from activities, he started chewing his shirt, would just not want to leave the classroom (to go to PE or Library)...all of which seemed so odd to me. We spoke to his pediatrician and he thought maybe ADHD and prescribed stimulants. My son had a bad neurological reaction, picking at his skin, mouth moving, screaming, etc. The pediatrician recommended we see a behavioral therapist. We have taken him for just under a year, once a month and he just now saw the psychiatrist today. Once we took him out of school last Spring, the chewing on his shirt stopped, the bathroom accidents stopped (mostly) and he has matured a lot. A couple of weeks ago, he started back to school to try Kindergarten again and we have been finding (at home) shirts that he has taken off because he's been chewing them.... he has been suffering from what we thought was a stomach virus, but now we are suspecting his diarrhea is being caused by stress. His teacher says he is better this year so far, just very loud and talkative. I am at a loss because the doctor today said our behavioral plan should be negative and positive consequences for his behaviors. He "diagnosed" him with a general mood disorder, otherwise unspecified. I am frustrated because I feel like we are seeing the beginning of last year all over again with no plan on how to deal with it. I have tried all sorts of ideas to deal with my son's unique behaviors. One thing that has worked is we have a timer that shows the time in red space as it counts down the space gets smaller and that has helped a lot with his transitions, but I don't know what else to do. He is bright and funny...lots of personality...he loves computers and how things are put together, Minecraft, and is friendly without really making "friends"....he can't handle change or surprises (he will have a meltdown)... it is like his emotions are right on the surface, he can be happy and fine and the next minute he is sobbing over something (to us) that is insignificant. If he is suffering from anxiety, why can no one give us advice or help of how to deal with it? If my son was old enough to understand his feelings and verbalize them, maybe I could figure it out. But he acts like he is fine, he acts carefree, even though his behaviors show he isn't. I am so frustrated by it all. His father is bipolar and has issues for depression/anxiety so we recognize symptoms in adults, but with my son I am unsure what his issues are exactly and if the Dr can't help, who can? Since my son was born, I feel like our family has had to walk on eggshells when dealing with him because it requires so much effort to keep things balanced. He is so totally intrinsically motivated that it is hard to get him to do things unless he sees the point in them. You can't simply bribe him and you can punish him severely and it can mean nothing to him if his mind is made up. He doesn't hurt others or really bother anyone, he just isn't always compliant and his emotions are all over the place- with what we fear is anxiety over coming back to school. My goal is for him to learn to deal with his emotions and feelings, but no one seems able to offer any help on how to do that or what may be wrong with him.