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Child Aggression at School

Q:

"I'm told that my five-year-old son is aggressive at school. What should I do?"

A:

Children with AD/HD often have trouble expressing their needs verbally, and the resulting frustration can be perceived as aggression. Encourage your son to use “I” messages — for example, “I don’t like it when you cut in front of me in line. It’s against the rules and it makes me mad.”

Give him a sticker or put stars on a chart for each day that he controls his impulses to hit or yell. If his aggression arises at certain times during the school day, let the teacher know that he needs extra guidance during transitions, while standing in line, and so on. If you think he’s engaging in rough behavior to get attention, seek professional help.

Dr. Carol Brady is a clinical psychologist in private practice in Houston, Texas. She is also a specialist in school psychology and a well-regarded speaker in the area of ADHD, children, and families in trauma and Tourette's Syndrome.

She received her Ph.D. from LSU and she is currently on the scientific advisory board for the Tourette's Syndrome Association and is an adjunct faculty at Baylor University and the University of Texas. Dr. Brady hopes to help children and families who deal with neurological/developmental disorders by serving as a regular columnist for ADDitude magazine.

2 Comments:

  • Posted by Sherry - Jul 25 2007 @ 6:46 PM
    how far will it go?
    my 7 year old was in the lunch room and a child had hit him, my son responded by throwing his milk in the kids face, my son was suspended for three days while the other kid got nothing, can the school do this???
  • Posted by Pam Schmidt - Jun 30 2007 @ 7:57 PM
    It Happens
    This very thing happened to my ADD daughter last spring during a recess game of tag. She got mad at being tagged it and hit a friend on the arm. You would have thought it was "armed" robbery the way her private Catholic school and the girl's mother responded. My dear daughter was not only taking her ADD med, but was also being treated with steroids for the croup which the pediatrician warned could cause irritability and aggressiveness. The end result was the girl's mom removed her from the school w/2 weeks of classes left and wrote a 3 page letter to the Archdiocese office. My daughter now has to undergo additional IQ/LD testing at the pricinciple's request. I've explained all the ADD/LD reactions to them as you have here, but where is the justice for the ADD/LD child? PS Schmidt, Greenwood, IN
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