falling apart with aggression
I agree with OlderMom. I would also add that Strattera can cause terrible mood swings in kids, even if it appears to work at first. If aggression has always been a problem (even before meds), I'd absolutely take him to a board-certified child psychiatrist who has experience with treatings kids with bipolar disorder. You need to first rule in or out bipolar disorder. After that, I'd recommend a complete evaluation by a neuropscyhologist, who can assess for many childhood disorders, including but not limited to ADHD. You need to have the right diagnosis before you can put the proper interventions into place. Good luck.
I haven't been here in months because things were going well. Our 6 year old son was diagnosed with ADHD about 15 months ago. After trying ritalin and adderall, we have seen success with strattera which was started in August. Our school and teachers are great!!!!
They have worked so hard to help him in the classroom. We WERE happy with day care (I am a special ed. teacher in another district). UNTIL...Friday we received a call from day care and asked not to return anymore. On thursday our son has a meltdown and became physically aggressive with the director (hitting, scratching, kicking, etc.) 
We have seen this before but never to this degree. He was getting so much better. So I took this week off from work and was looking for an in home care provider when I got the phone call today that he was scratching and hitting 2 boys on the bus on the way to school. Now, I will drive him in tomorrow and thinking he should miss the bday party for a friend tonight. I am at my wits end!!! He admits to all of it, but doesn't seem to care that he hurt others. He can verbalize that it is wrong, but doesn't seem to feel sorry. Thinking about seeing a neurologist but I think that would just be more meds and is that the answer!?! Called a treatment center to get him into counseling right away. Could really use some advice from some of you out there! I would love to fast forward my life 10 years and see how he is in high school. One on one he is a great kid. We had a wonderful morning before he left. It is just with kids in unstructured settings that he doesn't seem to know what is socially appropriate!! HELP!I'd take him to a Psychiatrist or NeuroPsych, not Neurologist. Neurologists diagnose stuff like epilepsy, but can't diagnose childhood disorders such as bipolar/ADHD/autistic spectrum disorder. It could just be the meds, but an aggressive reaction to meds can be a warning sign of early onset bipolar (those kids get aggressive on stims and/or STraterra, which is an antidepressant). I certainly wouldn't trust a pediatrician or therapist or even psycologist to diagnose him. It's always best to leave no stone unturned or, yes, he could be much worse in high school. With the proper diagnosis and treatment he could be much better.If the aggression is new I'd think about the meds being wrong, and try something else. If its isolated incidents I'd look into what's happening at school or elsewhere thats getting him going. He may be reacting to something that is happening to him, or its impulsive, or a behavior problem. Good luck figuring it out. Sounds like he'll miss that birthday party poor kid, or he could miss out the next couple nights of something. I guess I'm a sucker for birthday parties. Maybe his impulsivity gets the best of him right now. I understand your dilemma's. Good LuckRitalin based meds definitely caused aggression in my son. I'm not sure about Strat tho. You may want to consider changing/discontinuing that med to see if that was the cause.hey guys, I actually thought that i was the only one that had to deal with a very aggressive 5yo. he was dx with adhd and odd in 04 and put on ritalin. It seemed to work for a while but not it seems as tho the ritalin is actually causing the aggression. He got sick and missed a few doses of it and was just as sweet and significantly less outbursts. tried him on strat. and he was much better. When i refilled his Rit. and gave it to him he reverted back to hitting his sister and really talking hateful and angry with me and dad. i have seen the time that he would choose a spanking 3 times in a row over apologizing to me for screaming at me and being disrespectful. I know something is not right just dont know what.
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