My son is 7 and the start of this school year has been rough. In the past there have been a few school incidents but overall when I would talk to his teachers they would say that he’s well liked and they don’t see too many symptoms in the classroom. He has had a couple incidents in the past at recess but usually sporadic. This week he just seems so deregulated, had issues at recess the last 2 days with hurting another child and had a lot of hands on at soccer yesterday. We always struggle at home between him and his sister and when he’s mad at her or she does something he doesn’t like he immediately goes and does something to her but it hasn’t translated to others outside our house. He does have some anger and aggression struggles but can also be the sweetest most inquisitive child. Overall at home and school we had thought he was doing better but it’s been a tough week. For the most part he had been doing well with school work but I feel like this year his ADHD may be affecting his focus and learning. I had already emailed his teacher to meet with her because I want to hear how he is doing but I was already thinking to talk to his PCP about starting medication to help in school. Now with this week’s struggles being more than in the past my question is does ADHD medication also help with aggression? I’m not sure if it’s mainly impulsivity but even if he has time to think if someone does something to him or he thinks someone did his first thought is always that he wants to hurt them. What helps the most with this type of behavior? He has been in therapy and honestly I’m not sure it’s doing any good and I’m not sure if it’s just not a good fit with his therapist or if therapy isn’t going to help him. She is on maternity leave right now so we are taking a break. I’m just trying to figure out what the best way to help him as I know his self-esteem is definitely affected to as he has told me “I’m bad” which breaks my heart. Any recommendations are greatly appreciated!
medications: My son is 7 and the start... - CHADD's ADHD Pare...
medications
I can really relate over here. We have an 8 year old son and things were difficult but seemed manageable with the worst being at home with us and his younger brother. I do think they try really hard to keep it together at school but it’s hard! I imagine it’s like walking on a tightrope which takes a lot of energy. And they get tired. First two weeks of school/camp are always golden. Then incidents happen. for our son I think it is the impulsivity.
We spoke with our pediatrician and are trying adhd medication. We did parental training weekly for 18 months. There were some benefits. Things have improved and he has matured as well. But all the other kids are maturing as well. If ADHD kids are delayed by 70% your 7 year old has the social and emotional capacity of a 4.9 year old. They start to notice and other kids do too. I was willing to try the medication when my son was sad he didn’t get invited to many birthday parties last school year. It broke my heart. And I realized I need to give him every chance possible to grow , learn and thrive as a person. We’ll love him and stick by his side, the rest of society is not so understanding.
It’s the second week of increasing his dose so we haven’t seen any side effects or behavior response. Everything I’ve read has said finding the right medication and optimal dosage is a process. I had hoped that he would respond immediately to the first dose 😊 but am trying to be patient. It also means one shouldn’t wait until things get to a breaking point because the medication is unlikely to transform your child’s symptoms overnight with the first formulation/dosage.
Good luck!
Last year my son was becoming aggressive and having issues at school, he was 7. His friendships were suffering alot and he was in the office so often due to his impulsive behavior. Once we received the dx., medication helped with the aggression and impulsivity but it is not a magic cure and there is still a lot of effort that goes into his day to day as a parent. But things improved significantly.Individual therapy is not a recommended treatment as per the guidelines of the American Academy of Pediatrics for young children with ADHD. Parent training however is, and I found that helpful. We tried individual therapy in the beginning with him, when we weren't sure what was going on and before the dx, and he would say all the right things to the therapist of what he needed to do but when he got angry or frustrated, it would not translate in the moment.
ADHD kids learn most in the moment, due to executive function delay, that is why therapy, where they need to recall what they discussed and then apply it to the moment is extremely challenging for them, especially at such a young age.
For me medication, and parent training works but I will be honest, parenting a child with ADHD is still a lot of work and takes a lot of patience. If you are consistent you will see progress and I believe in the long run it will all work out. But it is a lot of work, that's why support outlets like these are really important and helpful especially during those tough times.
Hope that helps.
Our son is 8 and was diagnosed with ADHD (and exhibited ODD tendencies) at 4. He had significant trouble functioning in pre-K, and was in co-teaching in K/1st and had issues in both.
He did not do well with stimulants but has done well on guanfacine ER and atomoxetine (straterra) which seem to give him an extra few seconds to consider his impulsive behavior and seem to help his mood a bit too. Figuring out the right medication and dose for him with his child psychiatrist was a months-long process but I am so glad we did it.
I don't totally attribute all of his benefit to medications, but I think they have helped a lot. That plus maturity has enabled him to move from a special ed/mixed classroom to a mainstream one, and he is now doing very well there. His teacher notices that he is different but he is overall behaving well and doing well, and has started to make more friends.
I would highly recommend looking into nutritional lithium and reading the book Finally Focused by James Greenblatt. Our son (8 yo with ODD, ADHD, and Anxiety) was struggling with severe aggression and impulsivity. We tried Strattera and Guanfacine, but he was not a good candidate for stimulant meds. Both medications had such horrible side effects that we had to discontinue and are now using all micronutrient/vitamins and supplements. The change has been absolutely remarkable. I attribute the dramatic decrease in his aggression to the nutritional lithium and mood probiotics, but I’m sure the magnesium, zinc and other vitamins are helping too. Best of luck to you and your family!
Hi,
Can I please ask what your sons side effects were on the non stimulants? My son is 6 and the come down on stimulants just weren’t worth it for us he was having even worse aggressive impulses then he ever had without the stimulants so we started Clonidine 4 weeks ago and I’m seeing things with that that has started to make me question him taking it, I believe it is very similar to guanfacine.
Also what are mood probiotics this is something I’m not familiar with.
Thank you 😊
Hi,
My son tried Straterra and the side effect was suicidal ideation. I’m sure that is scary at any age, but he is only 8 and it was traumatic and horrifying, ending in an ambulance trip to the hospital for a psych evaluation.
We then tried guanfacine and it worked to an extent treating his aggression and impulsivity, but the side effects were: loss of appetite (almost completely, he would only eat one food), inability to sleep at night, but lethargy/sleepiness during the day where he would sometimes fall asleep in the afternoon, low blood pressure, lack of enjoyment of things he previously liked (sports, friends, skateboarding). We felt like it turned him into a joyless zombie and it was sad to watch.
The mood probiotics were something I heard about on a podcast called ADHD Kids Can Thrive with a guest named Dr. Elisa Song. I would recommend giving that podcast a listen for better information than I can recall here 
But essentially, there are specific strains of probiotics that target the brain and have been clinically studied and shown to improve mood and anxiety. I was absolutely skeptical of this, but also pretty desperate. So we gave it a try and I think the probiotics and nutritional lithium have been the biggest game-changers for us. The ones we are using are made by Innovix Labs and are called simply “Mood Probiotics.”
I hope this information is helpful. I always hesitate share, because I know a lot of people have great success with medication, but these are our experiences! Best of luck to you and your son.
PurplePizza What kind of lithium and what was the dosage? Are you taking it with other medications? Wondering if my psych will agree...
It is a 1 mg dose of lithium orotate. The brand is pure encapsulations.
He is not on any medications, but he takes multiple supplements: omega 3, vitamin D, zinc, magnesium, multivitamins, probiotics
Hi! When I read your post, I felt like I was reading about my life!! Last year in school, we really started to see a big change in my gal's behavior and saw the ADHD really starting to show up in school for the first time. It felt like my gal was starting to realize that she had a harder time paying attention, staying on task, and completing things than the other kids... and her impulsivity and rejection sensitivity led to a really challenging social year. We tried meds but after trying 4 different ones that all created a strong sunset effect for her and pretty intense anger in the evenings, she asked to take a break from meds, so we are still on that break. I did find her a therapist, and that has been really key. A few notes on that -- we tried 3 therapists before landing on this one. If you aren't sure if the therapist is a good fit, CHANGE. Trust your gut on this, and hold your standards high because a great therapist is a game-changer, and your kid really deserves that (so you do!!). When we tried each one, I narrated "we'll try this one, but you and I can both decide if it seems like a good fit or not. Just because we try this one, does not mean we have to stick with it. It's really important to find someone we both feel really good about." I think there are really strong life messages there for these kiddos -- that it takes work to find good support and they need to be evaluating whether they are getting what they need from their supporters. Even with a great therapist, we realized that my gal was really minimizing her challenges with her therapist and so the therapist suggested that we switch up the therapy pattern. Now we do a rotation of 4 sessions -- 1 week on her own with the therapist, 1 week with both of us (she tends to not minimize as much when I am there to support the story), 1 week on her own, and 1 week of just me and her therapist where her therapist helps me adjust my parenting approach based on what is going on. But just the other day, my daughter said "Mom, I think I may have some anger issues. Can we work on them together" and I saw the win of therapy in that moment
the right medication can help. With adhf meds, you can usually tell if it’s working g within the first couple days, but stick with one for a couple weeks because sometimes it can change. Most people take 3-4 different meds before they find the right fit, so communicate with the doctor and setup an appt a month after starting meds and email in a week after starting meds. My partner was more aggressive on one med, and the current one is the best we have found for his impulsive aggression. Basically he takes Vyvanse and when he comes off it, it’s a shock to the system and it is confusing for him. This is why he takes a booster of dextroamphetamine as well. It’s a slower transition. Make sure kiddo eats when he takes it.
If you’re concerned of side effects, take a gene sight test. It will say which meds don’t work well with his genetics.
hi mom! I feel like k could have written this post! My son is 6 but almost everything is exactly the same. He has been on guanfacine 1mg at night and is helps a bit, but there are still incidents happening so we just decided yesterday to try Focalin. I’m hopeful but realistic that it can take a few tries! Anyone have good results with Focalin??
My daughter had a major increase in symptoms in going from a small kindergarten class to a first grade class with double the kids - spent nearly every day in the office for acting out/hitting/pushing other kids just simply due to the overwhelm.
We changed schools so she is in a small school (class of 16), but she still had the emotional dysregulation that comes with having to make an effort to learn. We started intuniv and increased the dose from 1 mg to 2 mg after 6 weeks - it helped her a lot both at home and at school “stay calm” (her words). She was still having focus issues.
This year, we have just added focalin- I was not going to risk the irritability that is associated with stimulants without the intuniv in the background. We are 3 weeks in with focalin ER 5 mg and intuniv 2 mg, and she is currently in her flow with school- she is actually asking multiple times in the morning “can we go to school now”? She is able to get her planned works done (she attends a Montessori school) which she is very proud of - the achievement has been motivating for her. She still has things she complains about, but the overwhelm and perfectionism is well managed so she can succeed.
I know there can be a lot of resistance to the polypharmacy aspect of this, but the synergy really has been the ticket for her from the medication standpoint. The dose of stimulant is low, so she is eating. There is still the focalin crash, but after the first week it has attenuated significantly. She is still having some good nights/bad nights with sleep, but she did this for a few weeks with starting and adjusting the intuniv. This is not so severe we would stop the medication.
All of this has been done on a backdrop of OT and parenting classes, but I think keeping an open mind and knowing that the side effects you see early with medication may subside after a few weeks will help you find the right medication (or cocktail of medication) to combine with the right environment, therapy and parent training to help your kid feel successful.
Good luck!
When one parent doesn’t get it 
11yo school refusal when with mom, aggression 
CBD Oil ....Maybe
10yr old adhd, tics, aggression, bullying sibling
Does the aggression / physicality really go away? Feeling hopeless most days 
