Adhd ODD AND conduct disorder

[WLAH]

Any advise. Have 8 year old boy who show suggestions off above when assessed by Education physocologist but need official diagnosed by Camhs which could be a year. Last few weeks in school been horrendous. He gets wound up in school and lashes out at simplest of things. This week alone he has hit 3 pupils resulting in bruises and went to him teacher. Lunch box flung of table when teacher asked him put it away. He just can't deal with him anger. Any advise as waiting list could be a year

That sounds really tough, such a long wait Is your DS getting any support in school meantime? ODD and conduct disorders are often the result of underlying conditions like ADD which haven't been fully diagnosed and aren't being properly managed. If the school can get the right management strategies in place things will get better for him - he will be under less pressure, there will be fewer triggers and his behaviour will improve.

Some advice I got at a parenting group when my own DS was kicking off mightily at school and was waiting for asessments was to focus on keeping things calm and undemanding and friendly at home, and not to punish at home for what happens in school unless the school absolutely insist. You have to keep the school onside but getting heavy at home doesn't help and often makes things worse. And if you do punish keep it short and mild - nothing that extends more than a couple of days. The calmer things are at home the less likely he is to kick off at school.

Do have a look at Ross Greene's Explosive Child book and Lives in the Balance website - the book saved my bacon while I was waiting for my own DS to be assessed and I returned to it whenever things got sticky afterwards. DS had a lot of ODD type behaviour when he started school and turned out to have some major ASC issues. Once those were addressed the defiance and lashing out were less of a problem. Also if you go over to the Mumsnet Special Needs threads you'll find other mums who've been there.

And CAMHS will probably do this anyway, but when you eventually get there do make sure your DS is being assessed for everything, not just ADD but also ASC and anxiety and all the rest as well. Educational psychologists aren't really qualified to diagnose these conditions nor to rule them out.

I hope thing get better soon for you and your DS

Many thanks for reply kleinzeit

School talked about suspension as the next step

I am really sorry about that Can you use that as leverage to get yourself pushed up the waiting list at all? Ring them up and say your child is about to be excluded.

You could also argue with the school - insist on knowing what they are doing to support your DS. His behaviour does sound very hard to manage but the ed psych has told them he has serious problems which need to be assessed. Does he have extra TA support? What does the SENCO say?

DS's school told us that DS would be excluded if we did not support getting him assessed. Luckily they were willing and able to hang in there til he was assessed, and they even got support in place from the education authority before he had a formal diagnosis. But that was a long time ago and things are much tighter financially now and most schools and LEAs have fewer resources.

The biggest thing to hold on to is that none of this is your DS's fault. He has additional needs which aren't being met, they haven't even been properly assessed. He is probably stressed and unhappy a lot of the time at school.

If you are in England it may be worth calling IPSEA for advice ; in Scotland Enquire are a great help.

Principal has wrote a letter to CAMHS this week.
Yes ds not happy in school and in general. Says nobody likes him as he so bold