5 year old ds

[MunchkinsMumof2]

My ds is behind his peers developmentally by about 1-2 years due to late speech. He is a lovely kind and gentle boy but he is struggling with his frustration. He is hitting his sister and regularly disrupts anything she is doing as if to wind her up.
His Reception teacher told me yesterday that he is doing the same in class, hitting others and being disruptive.
He is not sleeping well so that could be a factor but I am struggling to cope with him as I don't know how to manage his anger and frustration, does anyone have any similar experience or words of wisdom as I am finding family life hard and would welcome some help or source of help.
Thank you.

bump

Have you heard of Social Stories? You can get them off google, or you can write them yourself, like this:

"Everybody likes to have friends.

Friends act kindly towards each other. Friends help each other.

When I push, hit, or interrupt people, they may not want to be my friend.

When I keep an arms length away from them, smile at them, and ask if I may join in, then they may want to be my friend.

I would like to have friends. I will try very hard to be a good friend."

HTH

Loads of positive attention. It is hard but works a treat.

Is he having speech therapy? ds was like that but his speech is great now. I did push for a speech therapist for preschoolers and he really came on.

What support/intervention and help does he get?

Thank you, I haven't heard of Social Stories before but I will look it up. He is on the waiting list for 1:1 speech therapy and I think I have underestimated how bad his communication was before he started school.

There are still long periods when he is my sweet loving and funny boy but when the frustration kicks in he is horrible and unpredictable. He has had 2 very early nights this weekend in the hope that more sleep will help but he gets up 1 or 2 times a night to check that we haven't left him.

I praise him regularly as he needs alot of positive reinforcement but I need some strategies to deal with his aggression and inappropriate behaviour.

He told me he hit someone in assembly yesterday and then smiled, he doesn't take me being cross or unhappy with him seriously....I feel worried.

x posted Stark, he is on an IEP and has sessions with a special needs teacher to encourage him to speak in longer sentences and is waiting for speech therapy.

I personally would go to the GP and ask for a referral to developmental paed. You need early intervention and lots of it, - not waiting lists.

Thank you Stark, I hadn't realised there were developmental paeds. I will make an appointment at the GPs on monday and even if his bad behaviour at school is temporary his communication problems are still at the heart of it all.