Fits, Screaming and Aggressive Behavior

Hi B.,

What is happening in your life and home currently? Is this a new behavior, or has he always had difficulties expressing himself? I'm a parent coach who helps with behavioral issues. More often than not, when a young child is acting like this they do have a problem they cannot express. Boys have a harder time with language skills and often act more aggressively than girls do.

Start by thinking about any changes in your life lately and work from there. Even small changes to you can be a huge issue for your son.

When you see a fit, help him gain control and then talk with him about the situation.

I hope you can figure it out.

R. Magby

You may want to take your son to a developmental pediatrician to see if there are any issues that underlie such behavior--maybe he has sensory issues and sensory overload in childcare leads to aggression, maybe there are other issues that a nonspecialist won't notice. Once the cause of his behavior is established, the specialist can recommend the best course of action--play therapy, sensory integration, etc. If your son does not behave aggressively at home, there may be something in the childcare setting itself that's triggering his behavior. You can hire a specialist to observe your son in childcare, sometimes small changes to the childcare setting can help. Good luck!

Play therapy is an excellent for children. It is simply allowing the child to express and process his emotions through play. Some forms of PT are more or less directive depending on the therapist. Be sure they are PT certified and ask how long they have been doing play therapy. Too, when you ask your son what they did, he will probably just say play. Sounds like you are paying for him to play, but there is more to the process than "just" play. You may want to go to a psychologist who can also do assessment to rule out other causes of aggression, NOT for diagnosis. Hope this helps and you get the answers you would like!

Jen

If all else fails, pay attention to the times and places this occurs, and what your son might have been exposed to in the preceding hour or so.

Chemical sensitivities are becoming common in children, and can have a tremendous impact on their physical and mental processes. I have suffered from this myself for 20+ years, and experienced mental and emotional effects that are difficult for me as an adult. I have watched children in group testing situations go from calm and polite to raging, weeping, or intractable only minutes after some dilute chemical was squirted under their tongues. Modern homes contain a shocking list of chemicals that can overload a child: anything perfumed, like toiletries, detergent and fabric softeners, most household cleaning products, auto exhaust, new plastics…. There are also colors and preservatives in many foods that have recently been proven to make susceptible kids more hyper.

You can test this possibility by bagging household chemicals and using only baking soda and vinegar to clean for a couple of weeks, cooking fresh foods from scratch, and seeing whether this makes a difference.

Good luck. Hope you find a solution, for your son's sake and yours.

I agree with Jen L. Give play therapy a try. I also suggest that you look at what may have happened to change his behavior, as suggested by Rebecca M., if this is something new. Doing both of these will help you figure it out and find ways of helping him.

It is extremely important that you figure out what is happening now and how to change it right away. The longer it goes on the more difficult it will be to change his behavior.

This can be caused by a food intolerance as well. Soy causes a lot of aggression..dairy can too.