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4 year old with behavorial problems.

bridalbellsbridalbells
in Special Needs

My 4 year old has been diagnosed with behavorial problems, mainly ODD. ( Oppositional defiance disorder).  We had plenty of tests ran on her, and that is what is causing this problem. She reverted back to her old habits.  For example, she started biting, kicking, punching, throwing things at her little brother, and doesnt do anything we ask her to do anymore.  She gets into food, gets destructive, and i feel its going to get worse. With the increase of her destructive behavors, it is taking a toll on me physically and i am at my wits end.

I need help and suggestions.  Please!!!

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Re: 4 year old with behavorial problems.

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    inspired2inspired2

    I experience similar behavioral problems when my son was this age. He had a ton of energy and would not listen. At daycare, he was hitting and kicking the infants and he would even bite my disabled son. He would run in circles or jump around nonstop and when I would tell him to stop he would say ok but keep going. It was almost like he couldn't stop. I had him evaluated by a psychologist and his preschool eventually terminated him from their program. 

     My mother had been insisting that I take sugar away from his diet saying this could be causing the behavior, even though I doubted their would be a change I was willing to try anything. After about two weeks of taking sugar and most processed foods out of his diet, their was a huge change in my son's behavior. He still had more energy then the average child, but the extreme hyperactivity and behavior problems significantly changed. 

    My son is now ten and in the last two years, we have not had to monitor his sugar intake as intensely, but we still limit his chocolate intake since we notice his behavior change when he consumes too much of it. Again he still has more energy then others but we channel it into positive things like sports and the behavioral problems are completely gone.

    Apparently there are children who have a low tolerance for sugar. I am not saying this is the case in every child who has behavioral  problems or ADHD, but sometimes it is.It was not easy at first to change his diet but eventually he would even opt not to eat certain items because he knew they were not ok for him. It doesn't hurt to try 

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    audrey79audrey79 member
    image-auntie-:

    I'm sorry you're struggling with this very difficult situation. We have a boy scout with ODD who I am called upon to wrangle from time to time. He looks like an angel but he's a real tough customer. He's getting help at school and is doing much better.

    The team that delivered this dx should have also helped you find a therapist familiar with ODD who could help you put a treatment plan together with positive behavior modifications.

    ODD seldom travels alone; what dx's did they R/O at this stage? FWIW, I know a lot of kids with ASDs, bipolar, ADHD and SPD who have been erroneously dx'd ODD. It's not a common girl dx and quite often schools make placements into Emotional/Behaviorally Disordered Self Contained Classrooms for this dx. If it isn't an appropriate dx, this can be a bad bad place.

    THIS exactly.  I was dx'd with ADHD & ODD back in the early 80's... before they knew what SPD was... in retrospect, I believe I'm an SPD kid all grown up!  My DS#1 was dx'd with SPD this summer after some pretty horrible behaviors at home and school- I had assumed he was ADHD and/or ODD like I supposedly was, and never even heard of SPD.  Thank the lord I found an awesome chld psych and pedi, and we are working w/our local school district- they have all helped us realize DS isn't ASD, ADHD, or ODD, that he doesn't need drugs and a group home- all he needs is OT and TIME...

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