Help with managing violent outbursts, impulsivity and hyperactiveness

[Bella2005]

We care for a close relative who has just been diagnosed with Fasd. He is only 6 but the aggression we see in him is scary. Does anyone else have experience of how you manage this? It's like stepping on egg shells all day every day but then trying to balance it with having to address the behaviours and out boundaries in place. The Lille one is still undergoing tests for adhd which we have been told is unlikely to have as well as fasd. I am worried that the impulsiveness and the aggressive behaviour is getting worse. Any advice is welcome and appreciated.

[dianakitten15]

Hi,

Our adopted son, recently diagnosed with FAS/ARND at age 10 yrs, had these aggressive outbursts for 6 yrs (after school). Although the frequency of the outbursts remained the same (approx once per week) over the years, the impact of them worsened simply due to the fact that he was increasing size and weight. When our son started doing 'flexible schooling' ie. half days at school, we saw a tremendous difference and a massive reduction in the meltdowns. It was my conclusion therefore that full time mainstream schooling is too difficult for these children on a social, emotional and sensory level. Also, the pace of learning is too fast and they become completely overwhelmed. Therefore, I would recommend that you first speak to your school SENCO about your child and his different learning needs (see FASD Trust website for Teacher leaflet and FAS in education training) and request that your son has an EHCP assessment (new name for old 'statement' process) or that you look at smaller schools and/or special schools.

[Threebecomefour]

Our adopted daughter has ARND and ADHD. We had about 2 years of really violent outbursts and tantrums from about 5/6 until just before she turned 8. She seems to have had a development in her emotional intelligence recently and is managing that side of things a lot better although has replaced the tantrums with lots of non-compliance and door slamming and the odd swear word thrown in for good measure. equally as frustrating but less damage to me which is nice. I found nothing works for long so switch behavioural techniques frequently. We play a game called The Points Game and that has been very helpful. I've tried beads and earning pennies but those sorts of things don't work for long. I try and stick to firm boundaries and a fairly rigid routine. She's doing relatively well at school but I do worry about it getting too fast paced for her. Visual timetabling can be brilliant for transitioning from one activity to the next. Transitions are often flash points for our children because they don't like changing from something they are enjoying so give lots of warnings about a change in activity and instead of going from one activity straight into the next try and change rooms I.e. Go into the kitchen and get a drink and then go onto the next activity. That can really help their brains switch to the next thing.

[Joygirl]

Get a copy of the book by Julia Brown & Dr Mather amazon.co.uk/Foetal-Alcohol...

Reward charts, stickers, points, arguing, explaining, asking why doesn't work.

Chapter 10 of the book has some good tips