Jump to content

Recommended Posts

I have a 7 year old who I think would benefit from a therapist. She is a bright articulate child but she has a very bad temper. She is extremely hard on herself and completely unable to cope with stress. She can be extremely disrespectful to her adults and throw big tantrum even at this age. When she has not flown into a rage or otherwise storming around the house she is an angel. Lovely, overly generous, creative and happy. I wonder if anyone has any experience with using a therapist to help a child deal with their anger and learn how to cope with stressful situations. We try to do simple things like send her to her room to calm down, read a book etc. and these techniques work but usually we have had a massive fight before where she is violent towards her younger siblings or us. I was hoping we could teach her techniques to avoid getting to such a bad place in the first place. All thoughts and recommendations for any therapists welcome.
Link to comment
https://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/topic/99893-behavioral-therapy-for-a-child/
Share on other sites

Hello, I have no direct experience to share but did not want to read and run. Have you had a chat with her school to see if your child displays the same behaviour at school? Perhaps they can share some strategies or tips with you?

I have read a book called the explosive child which I found useful when my son my younger. It sounds like she founds certain situations overwhelming, Do you know what situations she finds hard to manage? Are they at school or at home, or both?


Has she always been like this or has something changed in her routine? My son was very explosive about this time last year and I was really worried about it. As it turned out, he was deeply unhappy at his then nursery, which made him very anxious. He was stressed and deeply unhappy. Once we changed his nursery he has become a completely different little boy and the change in him was almost instant. Could it be something that is troubling her at school?


I am sure someone with more experience will come along in a minute and give some better advice.

There is a good book called 'The Kid's Guide to Staying Awesome and In Control'. It was written principally I think for children on the autistic spectrum and is quite American but it is full of practical strategies to help adults support children to regulate their emotions and behaviour, and for children to learn to regulate themselves.

Re therapists, I don't know of any locally. I do know, however, that when my nephew went through a really difficult time (aged 10) a child and family therapist helped his mum and him a great deal, and she felt that the expense was very much worth it.

I started a similar thread about my 6 year old son a few months ago, you might find the responses useful (bit confusing as I posted under a different name Lochie!):


http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1622836,1624494#msg-1624494


One trigger at the time seemed to be angry flair ups as a consequence of going back to school after Xmas hols! I think he had got used to doing things at his own pace at home over Xmas and then got very angry when he had to go back to school!


We have found this book useful - counting to 10 before you lash out and thinking before you react:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Feel-Angry-Your-Emotions/dp/0750214031/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459339839&sr=1-1&keywords=i+am+angry


I very much feel like my son's emotions lie just under the surface, he can literally flair up so very quickly over something that seems very trivial (to us at least but not to him). Reducing ipad use has helped. Also general mindfulness practices that are shown in this book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Peacefully-Meditation-Albert-Whitman-Prairie/dp/0807563811/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1459339973&sr=1-1&keywords=peacefully+piggy+meditation


Good luck. It can be very wearing, but for us it has improved a bit.

Hi this is a bit random but have you tried keeping a food diary to see if there is a specific food trigger for the behaviour? I've heard of children behaving that way because of a soy allergy. My son turns into a devil child if his blood sugar gets too high and then too low. If he has protein or oats for breakfast he is delightful all day.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • Big recommendation for Stephen Viccary who has created a magnificent bathroom for us. Quality of work is absolutely top notch. We couldn't be happier - see pics.  Stephen is considerate and tidy meaning working from home during the work was fine (some noise - obviously, it is a demo and installation after all. He does not work on multiple jobs, does a full days work and does ALL the work himself - Tiling, plumbing, lighting (including lighting on a motion sensor under the vanity and in the shower niche - for night time visits 😉), he even changed the door architraves, sorted the badly cracked ceiling and did all the paint work. A full end to end service. Stephen's number - 07941 266 145
    • Highly recommend Dulwich Eco Gardening.  When he came to quote Saied said he’d give our garden back so we could decide what we do next.  Under two weeks of hard work from Saied and Mo and we have the garden back and can see paving I’d forgotten about. Not only did Saied remove our very overgrown greenery. Nature had taken over. He also took back to our fence line overgrown ivy, apple and pear trees and and dealt with a neighbours bamboo that had invaded our garden.  We are now going to get quotes for what we do next so those quoting will be able to see the space.  Saied has suggested someone to quote and will be coming back when he does in case he has any questions or they can work together.  I thought Saied would be a good choice and he was. Quotes from others didn’t leave me with confidence for the end result. That was never a concern with Saied.
    • Having a BBQ (fingers crossed) in 2 weeks and need a small BBQ for veggie bits and any spare benches or garden tables and chairs to borrow to add to mine. Any going? Thanks in advance...
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...