Looking for advice

[Vtweedie19932]

I am a mom to a wonderful soon to be 7 year old who has severe ADHD . Currently he is on guanfacine HLC 2 mg a day. I am trying to steer clear of putting him on a stimulant because he was on vyvanse and I noticed a huge increase in his temper and aggression . I notice the guanfacine working but not huge amounts.. I'm looking for maybe some advice how to go about dealing with my son's "meltdowns " he will go through spurts of being pretty mellow and more contained but at the snap of a finger he becomes so agitated and aggressive. He completely shuts down and I just do not know how to go about it anymore. I have tried many different approaches but nothing is seeming to work. It's an ongoing issue of him just having such a defiant attitude twords authority. Nothing I do seems to help . I am looking to get maybe some advice on different approaches.

[MarySI]

There is a YouTube channel called howtoadhd which has an amazing video on how to deal with meltdowns.

youtube.com/watch?v=Yfg3ThE...(Not working as expected?)

Hope this helps❤❤

[walewyck]

I hear you, and I could have written this although my son is a little older. He's also on guanfacine and reacted poorly to a stimulant. He's seeing a psychologist, and the psychologist recommended to us a book called "The Explosive Child: A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children." That may be helpful to you; it hasn't been a panacea for us but has had some value. In my son's case, we also send him to his room when he melts down-- not as a punishment but to give him more space to calm down, while also separating the rest of us from having to be up close and personal with the storm of emotions. It doesn't stop the meltdowns but it can be a good tool for getting past them when they occur. As he's gotten older, the triggers for that kind of meltdown have become more likely to be centered around specific recurring issues like homework and restrictions on computer time. Tutors, when possible, are good for homework issues since he responds with less frustration to them than to his parents. Punishments when melting down have been ineffective because the emotional control just isn't there.