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7 year old aggressive behavior

My 7 year old son has been progressively getting more aggressive, particularly physically aggressive toward his younger brother and myself. He is continually disobedient and disrespectful to his father and me both. He has excellent behavior and grades at school. As soon as he gets off of the school bus, he starts hitting and picking on my youngest son and when I try to get him to stop, he turns on me. I spoke to his pediatrician about it and he said that he just needed more structured discipline, especially from me. uh well, I have tried every single form of discipline such as the rewards system, the rules charts, achievement charts, time outs, quiet time, distraction etc. I've tried spending more quality time and one-on-one time and nothing at all is working. His behavior is so out of control, I've been having anxiety attacks, even waking up in the middle of the night having them. I'm scared there is something wrong with him that I'm missing that's causing the behavior. And because his behavior is so good at school, no one thinks it's ODD or anything like that. Has anyone had any similar experiences?? I'm open to any ideas that will help the situation.
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Avatar universal
Hi Ganjau, I just read your thread from several years ago. I am dealing with a lot of the same with my 8 y.o. son. What has happened since you posted in 2009?
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535822 tn?1443976780
That is a good idea that way you will know if he needs any treatment... good luck
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Avatar universal
Nope, no meds or anything. I think I'm going to have him evaluated to see what's going on.
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535822 tn?1443976780
It is a good idea to get him checked out in case as you say something else may be going on, especially if he has these tics ,has he been taking any meds?                                                                    
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Avatar universal
We've done the taking away of toys, grounding from playing outside, extra praise for good behavior etc. My husband is really involved and coaches his sports teams, plays catch with him and does all the "Dad" type outdoorsy activities.  In fact, my younger son gets the short end of the stick because he's very quiet, docile and well behaved and tends not to get as much attention as my older one because of this.  We've put my 7 yr old in soccer, baseball, flag football and take the boys to the YCMA for stuff.  That's what makes this so frustrating.  We've tried so hard and are seeing no results.  Worse than no results, we're seeing worsening behavior.  The fact that no discipline or behavior modification techniques work is why I'm concerned there's more going on here than him being a "spoiled" child.  

As a side note, when we made the visit to his pediatrician, I also mentioned to him that I was concerned about some 'tics' he's been developing.  He's been squeaking and squealing extremely high pitched and pounds on objects (and people) with his fists a lot, not punching, but pounding. Argh, I dunno.  I don't know if these things are related, if this behavior is normal. I am at the end of my rope with it.
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535822 tn?1443976780
PS Lots of sports and games get his Dad involved with evening fun and weekends...
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535822 tn?1443976780
You know sometimes it is good to ask for some outside help and maybe this is a time to ask for some counseling ,. have you tried taking away something he cares about .No PC.. NO TV.. No going out to play with friends, let him stay in his room and be bored let him quietly do homework if he has some,.It could be he is jealous of his younger brother so when he is good focus on his positive side and praise him when you see him doing something right.The fact he is good at school tells you the problem lies at home , make sure he gets the same quality time the younger one does..Good Luck
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