Sad day...

[Andrea Danielle]

We thought our difficult child was doing really well on the Risperdal and that he was much more in control of himself than he had been previously. So, we decided to put him into a day camp for March break. It was a small group of kids, really close to home, and I had a long talk with the counsellors prior to leaving him to prepare them.... Monday to Wednesday were not too bad. He was loving camp, they do all kinds of fun things there. Some instances of aggression but overall alright. Then today, I dropped him off at 9am, went to work, when I arrived at 9:20am there was a voicemail to come and get him! He had lost it over a spat over a toy and was throwing toys, and everything he could grab, across the room and hitting kids.
The counsellor also told me that she has had several complaints about him already. I am home with him today feeling very sad for him, and for myself :frown: At home we read "Anger Mountain" (which is a really good book, by the way) and discussed ways he could deal with his anger in future. I think he really wants to be in control and not do these things. I might need to increase his medication, he is on .25 mg of Risperdal now... I didn't want to do it, but it might be necessary.

Andrea

 

[jal]

I am sorry you had to go through that. I know the feeling of things seeming to start to turn around only to have that dreaded phone call again. My difficult child is 4.5 elvolving diagnosis of EOBD...We tried Risperdal .25mg am and pm...in our experience it didn't touch him. I see by your post you just started it. Just an FYI, My difficult child experienced a big weight gain on it too. 6 lbs. in a few weeks (a lot for their 4 yr old bodies). He was off of it as of 11/06. He has been on Abilify for 4 weeks - MAJOR improvement.

 

[jal]

I am sorry you had to go through that. I know the feeling of things seeming to start to turn around only to have that dreaded phone call again. My difficult child is 4.5 elvolving diagnosis of EOBD...We tried Risperdal .25mg am and pm...in our experience it didn't touch him. I see by your post you just started it. Just an FYI, My difficult child experienced a big weight gain on it too. 6 lbs. in a few weeks (a lot for their 4 yr old bodies). He was off of it as of 11/06. He has been on Abilify for 4 weeks - MAJOR improvement.

 

[Allan-Matlem]

Hi,
The failure is not in the falling , but not getting up. These situations not only derail our kids but we also become despairing and some times look for the quick fix. The quicker we put these incidents behind us, find something small to celebrate so we can change gear. Success breeds success , a positive experience is a springboard for the next experience. Coming up with various alternative solutions shows good thinking , we can work from there .
Besides the anger management , recognizing the stimuli onslaught, we need to help the kid to come up with various alternative solutions to the problems he is facing - he can ask for help , try come up with a solution that is mutually satisfying or try give and take.
here is a thread I did on problem solving

http://empathic-discipline.com/talk/YaBB.pl?num=1171442844

I hope both of you feel better and more optimistic

Allan

 

[totoro]

Sorry Andrea-
Maybe an increase will help. Maybe he was having a bad time there??? Too much sensory stuff??? Who knows?

We just had to increase difficult child's Abilify we are doing this one very slow... 1mg up to 2mg. SO far ok....

I hope he does better. We are struggling still also.

 

[momof3boys]

I just wanted to add my support. I don't really have any advice. But reading your message gave me a stomache ache because I've been there and remember how that feels. Its soooo hard. I'm really really sorry. On a positive note, my little guy is now doing much better (he's now 5yo), and we haven't had any phone calls home from school all this year. I know that our guys have different things going on, and that ADHD is much easier to treat than Early Onset Bi-Polar (EOBP), but I just wanted to let you know that its POSSIBLE for things to turn around. I remember those dreaded calls from the preschool director, and sitting on pins and needles the entire time he was at school waiting to hear what horrible thing he had done last year. Its a new year, with medications that work for him, and we don't get those calls any more. Anyway, I just wanted to let you know how bad I feel for your situation, and I hope and pray that things get better for you.

I also wanted to add that my brother in law is BiPolar (BP), and he had a lot of similar issues as your son as a kid. He's now in his 40's and doing great. He's on medications that really work for him, he's teaching at a prestigous (I can't spell to save my life) private school, is married to a wonderful woman, has 3 great young kids, and is very, very happy. He didn't figure out that he had BiPolar (BP) until he was an adult. So, he had a very rough time growing up. Your son is so lucky that he has a mom who figured this out at such a young age. Your guy has an even better chance than my brother in law did. Again, I hope that things get better for you soon.