 | Dear Starbug,
My husband and I have a 6 year old little girl who has been going through some of the same things that you mention about your son.
We went through alot of hard times with her and her behaviors. We discovered that there was something different about her when she was about 9-10 months old. I know, it sounds very young but her behavior was very different from others babies her age. She seemed more advanced than other children. At first we were very proud of her, afterall she was so smart and everyone was always pointing that out. But as she grew, we noticed that she was beginning to have problems adjusting to new surroundings and other children her age. She seemed to get into "trouble" alot more with other kids. We tried every corrective punishment that we could think of (all the proper ones, of course). Even swatted her backside once or twice but nothing seem to work.
As she got older the problems got worse and THEN came kindergarden........ and our nightmares really came to life. She was refusing to sit still, always talking, touching and grabbing things. The teacher was going crazy and so were we. They were demanding that we put her on medicine for her problems. Like you, we refused meds for our child. We just couldn't see giving her pills for the rest of her childhood or her life. So, we spent alot of time in the doctor's office trying to find ways to help her WITHOUT putting her on any meds. Here are some of the suggestions that we were given and maybe they will help you:
1. give him a very strict schedule.Account for every mintue of his day.
EXAMPLES OF THIS:
Getting up at the same time every day(including weekends)and going to bed at the same time every night ( even it means leaving someone house too early).
2. limit the amount of sugar in his diet. This may be part of his problem (or not).
3. If he breaks something of yours (our daughter did this) then break something of his(something he loves). This will stop. Once is usually all you need:)
4. Put him in a timeout( I know, it sounds stupid) BUT add an extra minute for everytime he says something about OR he gets up. This works great,too.
5. When all else fails talk to your doctor.
Her doctor said that she is very smart and above her age group. Because of this, her little brain is going about million miles a minute and her bodyis trying to keep up but is unable to. She has been on meds now for about 4 months and there has been a big change. She can now concentrate more easily, learning alot faster, and is still very full of energy BUT she has learn to direct it in a good way.
I wish you all the luck in the world, and my heart goes out to you because I have been where you are now. And remember, give him all the love in the world and ALOT of extra patience:)
P.S. the name of our daughters meds is: STRATTERA 25mg ONCE a day. |
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