Bizarre behavior from 4-year-old
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Anonymous
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My son is almost 4 (bday in December) and is in full-day pre-K. Intellectually he is pretty average (I believe he has the cognitive abilities of a typical 4-year-old), but he is a very anxious child. He bites his nails until they bleed and still chews on toys and on his clothing. When he is anxious, which usually occurs in group settings: at school, Sunday school, music class, etc, he acts erratically. For example, he will stand up during circle time and throw a toy or run and hide under a desk. He hits other children unprovoked almost every day at school. His pre-K teacher said she has never seen behavior like his. She has other aggressive children, but none that display this unprovoked aggressive and compulsive behavior so frequently and spontaneously.
He does the same things at home but we are using the Kazdin method, which is working very well for us. When he is calm and displays appropriate behavior he gets lots of hugs and kisses and praise and he earns points that he can accumulate to earn a prize. We use this method at Sunday school too, but it means that I have to sit in class with him and watch him and frequently reward his good behavior. Our experience at church and at home has changed 100% for the better. The problem is that at school, the teacher can't focus so much attention on him. Obviously I can't sit in class with him all day giving him rewards. I could volunteer to be in class occasionally, but I work full time. I've asked the teacher to try to reward him more for good behavior and she said that she would try, but she is limited, of course, because she has 20 other children to attend to. Does anyone else have experience with this behavior? Any advice? |
Anonymous
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Does he attend a public school? Is he going to be evaluated? Ask them to evaluate him. Also, I would get in line for a developmental pediatrician, now. The only one that does classroom visits is Dr. Dan Shapiro in Rockville. Do a search on this forum for contact info.
Also, he needs to be in a smaller classroom. |
Anonymous
| Love the Kazdin method, but it doesn't seem geared to anxiety. |
Anonymous
| You really should have a full evaluation by s developmental pediatrician. It sounds like you need some professional advice and support. |
Anonymous
| Op here. Thank you for the advice. I agree with the PP who said that the classroom situation is not the best. However the school and teacher are so warm and supportive that I want to keep trying at least until the end of December. I will definitely look into getting him evaluated. This has certainly been a shock to my system. |
Anonymous
| I'm the pp who suggested a smaller classroom. Definitely wait until you get an evaluation. It may all work out and having a warm supportive environment is half the battle. GL! |
Anonymous
| I would take him to a developmental pediatrician. You need to call ASAP b/c they are hard to get into. |
Anonymous
| I had a 4 year old child in my class w/ similar behaviors. After working w/ him and his psychologist, in the spring, he was expelled. A diagnosis was never given to the school. Good luc k. I am sorry. |
Anonymous
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the modifications you are doing sound great, but they do not give you a clue about the underlying cause of anxiety. Until you figure that out - the behavior modifications are just triage. great triage, needed triage but they do not give you a clear path forward for kindergarten - and that is where things get complicated in terms of expected behavior whether in public or private school.
So get a full neuro/pysch eval and find out if it is anxiety, adhd, something else.... |
Anonymous
| You need a diagnosis and you need an IEP. The behavior your child is exhibiting can get him suspended or expelled unless he has a disability. I don't doubt that he does have one, but without the paperwork he has no protection under IDEA. |
Anonymous
Yes, in the meantime, I would see if you can find an Occupational Therapist to help with formulating strategies for the classroom. A dev ped will help you see the big picture but he needs as much as he can get in terms of tools for the here and now. GL |
Anonymous
| Just wanted to say that we are going through the same thig right now. It is super frustrating and overwhelming. Good luck! |
Anonymous
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I agree with the PPs about getting a dev ped evaluation and contacting the school to start the screening/evaluation/IEP process. My DS has anxiety and having the accomodations in the IEP has made a significant difference for him - especially on the days when the anxiety causes him to act out.
You might consider looking into an NIH study on anxiety http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/show/NCT00024635 . One of the researchers has presented at the FCPS Special Education Conference http://www.fcps.edu/cco/prc/resources/events/index.shtml the last couple of years. I go each time because it's really interesting http://www.fcps.edu/cco/prc/resources/events/documents/Fairfax10_11_2012.pdf After her first presentation, I contact NIH to see if my DS qualified for the study (we also had a friend who particiapted). DS did and enrolled in it. They did a lot of testing and gave me a lot of good information about what was going on with him and the severity of his anxiety. He's not as debilitated as some but it was definitely affecting his choices, his behavior at school and our relationship with him. For him, CBT wasn't sufficient. He's a little young to fully benefit from it so we decided to start him on a low dose of generic Prozac. The difference was amazing. The medication allowed him to better control his brain rather than his brain controlling him. He didn't have to spend so much energy on his anxiety and did so much better all around. He was on the mediation for about 9 months and then thought he would be okay without it. So, we tritrated him off it. He still has anxiety but no where near what it was. If it gets bad again, we'll start it again. Good luck. |
Anonymous
| He might be on sensory overload in the classroom b/c there are so many kids and so much is going on which is why he acts out and misbehaves. My son who has sensory issues misbehaves whenever he is on sensory overload (too much going on). For him, being in a small class is essential. When in a small classroom where not too much is going on, he behaves very well. It would be very interesting to see what would happen with your kid if he where put in a small class. Just a thought. |
Anonymous
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He's still young enough to get screening and services through ChildFind through your public school system. Call them asap!
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