6 yr old self harming.

[orangehead]

I really dont know where to start with this but ds2 aged 6 has terrible temper tantums. They can be over the smallest thing and he spirals out of control. In the end I think he has probably forgotten what he is actually upset about but the anger just seems to consume him. He lashes out at anything or anyone near including himself he will scatch himself, pinch himself, bite himself and grind his teeth. When he is like this nothing me or dh can do we cant reason with him or punish him as he is so consumed in his anger. We have tried all sorts nothing works. Most of the time he is a very loving child although we have some concerns about his attention span and some aspects of his behaviour. We have had a really bad weekend with him and Im really struggling. Anyone have similar experience

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Anyone at all. Im really struggling with this. It is horrible seeing him trying to shred his arms.

Hi Orangehead. How is he at school? You mentioned other behaviors, can you expand on these? If you have other real concerns, it may be worth chatting to you GP about them. They could refer him to either a child psychologist or pediatrician to help your ds.

I'm sure you probably have but have you tried discussing what makes him angry and ways of coping when he feels like that?

Ds (5) started behaving badly at school this term. I discovered almost by chance that certain random things made him very angry indeed (eg if the teacher gave him a sticker for good work). I went through a load of coping mechanisms he could use to manage his behaviour when he was so angry, eg deep breath and counting to ten, saying no and walking away, etc. It has had profound effect and our drive home from school conversation every day is about what made him angry that day and what he did to react.

We are seeing the GP this week because ds's teacher has raised concerns about his concentration so I'm not sure if the two aspects of behaviour are connected.

I should add that ds has had unbelievable temper tantrums although his anger has been directed at me. He has calmed down both at school and at home although does have lapses at home, which we talk about.

He is under the hospital but we dont have another appointment for a month. But I have just rang and secretary said she will try to get the docotor to give me a ring.
He has bite people at school and teacher has noticed him trying to hit himself and that sometimes he gets 'black moods' for no reason. They also concerned about his attention span and easily gets distracted. His reading age is above, his ability to spell words verbally is excellent but when he goes to spell words on paper it all goes wrong, but I feel that is due to attention.
I am feeling alot calmer today, yesterday I was really in bits and felt like I could not cope.
Thankyou for the replies

It sounds as if he is frustrated. It would be worthwhile getting the school's SENCO to assess him and see whether there is some underlying cause.