DS2 has been hitting at school. It has been happening occasionally throughout reception, but seems to have got a lot worse recently. Sometimes it is "provoked" by someone upsetting him (not that that is any excuse) but sometimes the only trigger seems to be that he is angry about something - it could be entirely unrelated to the person he has hit. It seems to us (me, DH and his teachers) that he flies into a rage and just can't control his reactions. Usually the target is a classmate, but a week or so ago he hit a teacher (the school were NOT happy about that). There have been about 3 hitting incidents over the past week and a half.
Every time there's an incident we have talked to him about what happened, and how he can't hit other people. He also gets punished when he gets home by being sent to his room and losing screen time for the rest of the day (sometimes two days). We don't smack or use any other form of corporal punishment at home (though when I asked my mum for her advice she said "give him a smack"!). He is always contrite, and seems to understand what he has done wrong, but it just keeps happening and I don't know what else to do.
The school has asked for a meeting and want to discuss involving "STIPS" - Specialist Teachers for Inclusive Practice.
Does anyone have any advice on what else we could try to help him control his behaviour? Or has anyone gone through this before with their own child and can offer reassurance that it is just a phase and things will improve?