Ds is nearly 8 and is currently awaiting assessment as school have flagged up issues with his behaviour, and there's always been "problems" however, as I'm just used to how he is, I'd never really worried too much. Since starting year 3, his behaviour has got worse; he's very anxious, has started eating his sleeves, collars, buttons etc., and is having the most monumental meltdowns, which is an issue we haven't had before. Not sure whether it's because he's finding the workload too hard (he's extremely bright; reading, spelling, grammar etc. is amazing but he really struggles writing things down and sitting still is a major issue!) or whether there's other issues that have set things off worse.
He doesn't seem to have any proper friends; he often says the other children won't let him play with them, and he's never had an invite to a party or for a play date, which makes me sad :( His social interaction is not great; he either talks them to death, or refuses to speak. Sometimes just growls or makes silly noises if he feels shy. He can't seem got stand or sit still at all, constantly tapping, fiddling with something, making noises etc. I've often said it's like having a soundtrack running in the background all day!
Anyway, just didn't want to drip feed, so apologies for the essay! Yesterday, after school, we had the worst meltdown yet (we've had a couple of in indents recently where he's refused to go into school and has got violent with me when I've tried to physically take him in) and he ended up grabbing a handful of my hair and swinging off it in the village shop, whilst growling and trying to punch me with the other hand. I just didn't know what to do :( I told him, repeatedly to let go and that he was hurting me (just recovering from a head injury so it actually hurt so much I could've cried) and he kept screaming, "I can't!" Gave him a really good talking to when we got home, explained it was not acceptable to ever do that to me, took his xbox off him for a week, and made him go and sit in his room until he was ready to apologise.
When he eventually came up to me, he was upset and said he was sorry, but he seems more concerned about the loss of his precious xbox than he was about having hurt me. He says he knows he shouldn't do it and he doesn't know what made him feel that angry.
I'm just struggling to cope :( Have I dealt with this ok? Is there anything else I could be doing to help the situation? Feeling like a total failure as a mother at the minute :(