helpme

[frazzledfrazzled]

I have a four year old daughter. We have moved from a domestic violence situation over a year ago. She recently was diagnosed with ADHD. She sees a counselor weekly, (changed from twice or once a month recently). She gets so angry and when she does not get her way,she screams, kicks, says she hates me, spits and tells me to go away. These temper tantrums are very violent, then she has nightmares, and crawls into bed with me sobbing. there is also a possilbilty that her father touched her inappropritely her when she was younger. I ve tried the time outs, the ignoring the behavior, taking away privledges, every thing. HELP

[frazzledfrazzled]

Deeyana, Yes I have found a great pyschologist. He is breaking down all of her symptons by which ones are involuntary and treated with meds and which ones are voluntary and to be treated with behavior therapy and counseling. I am just so frustrated some times when she has the tantrums. It wears me out. I am still recovering, even though its been two years from agressive cancer treatments and open heart surgery. Plus with the domestic abuse I had to escape, having to deal with these tantrums just wears me out.

[deeyana]

Frazzle, I'm glad you found a psychologist who seems to know what is going on. I just wanted to tell you that PTSD sometimes can look like ADHD. On you next appointment maybe you should bring this up with her psychologist or get a second opinion from a psychologist whom specializes in Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

[frazzledfrazzled]

She saw her counselor today and I met with her pyschologist today. We are going to try and ignore some of the temper tantrums. The Dr thinks now that her ADHD is under control, she does not know how to handle the anger, so we are trying more positve praising and her "token" system which was ten tokens gets a treat or prize or trip to the park, is now going to be five tokens to give her a more attainable goal. He thinks she is suffering from PTSD and possibly ODD. So its a long road ahead of us. Thanks for the feedback, I will look for that book

[margypops]

So it is home related, if shes okay at school,prK,it would still be a good idea to get some advice from the Doctor who is prescribing the meds,and the counsellor have you had any advice there  on how to handle her,  if she heard and saw her father with a similar issue she has learned some of this, how do you react when she has a tantrum and  what triggers them dont feed into it,, try to distract her before it gets out of hand, do some cooking with her, go for walks, board games are great fun, .Sounds like she has been through a lot it will take time There is a book out there the Doctor here recommends it it is called SOS Help for Parents.

[frazzledfrazzled]

She has had these tantrums for a while, and her hyperactivity has calmed down. She only has these fits at home not at preK. Its usually when she has to do something and she does not want to do it. Her father screamed and yelled. He was verbally and physically abusive and we moved to another part of the country to be with my family for support. She does see a counsleor weekly and we were hoping her meds would calm her down with the hyperactivity so she could control the anger. She has nightmares about her father all the time.

[margypops]

What Meds is she taking as they could be some of the cause of her behavior, ask your Doctor about this,How about you get her doing plenty of activities so she is occupied, sports and games What is she like at school if she goes to one or with other people, ,is her behavior the same as when she is at home.