7 year old out of control at school

[mywitsend13]

My 7 year old in 1st grade has been diagnosed with ADHS and Dyslexia.  He didn't have behavior problems in K and didn't have behavior problems until Oct. 08.  He started having tantrums in school (running, refusing to do things, screaming, throwing things, destroying things, hitting teachers if they tried to restrain him).  This was almost daily from Oct. to Jan. when I got the school to switch him to a self contained learning disabled classroom at another school.  He is in the correct placement now and was doing great for a month.  He is now having tantrums again, getting worse every day.  He has been on many ADHD meds. and is currently not on any ( has been off for a week and he goes to the doctor on Tues.).  He does not display tantrums anywhere else and does what is asked of him at home.  He is also being testing at school to see if he is on the Autism spectrum.  
I am at my wits end and don't know what to do.  He gets in trouble when he has bad days at school.  He has been spanked, taking things away, no outside, writing sentences, reward charts.  You name it we have tried it.  It doesn't seem to matter what happens at home.  He knows what he is doing is wrong and will say every morning, I am going to have a good day.  

[Encephalomalcia]

If you are not seeing the behavioral problems at home, then most likely it is his environment at school.  Has anyone at school asked him what is bothering him?  I think in general schools are lacking the ability to really connect with the children one on one.  What is causing him to scream and throw things?  What happens before he does this?  How does the teachers and school make him feel?  There are many ways to reach children and connect with them to get positive results.  Not all children are the same, and some need different tactics.  At age 7, a child really understands a great deal.  Ask him what is going on in school?  Find out all the information you can from him.  Then, have a meeting at the school with his teachers and if that doesn't help go to the principal.  Teachers need to have a positive attitude toward all children and your child may be picking up some negative interactions with the teachers.  

[Sandman2]

Get a calendar and chart on it when he started each Med.  See if you can attach to those any comments about his actions at school.  I would especially look at what meds he was on around Oct 8.  Show all of this to his doctor.

[Sally44]

I agree with both posts.  If he has any disorder the key characteristics of it should be there in all environments, however the 'behaviour' may differ depending on his environment.  
You say he already has ADHS and is being assessed for an autistic spectrum disorder.  Do you suspect that he has any sensory differences?
If he is on the spectrum and also has sensory difficulties then if the behaviour is at school then an Educational Psychologist with experience of ADHS and ASDs should give advice to that school.  However you say this is a special school, so I am assuming that they already have other pupils with ASDs and are aware of how to support them??
If he is being assessed by an ASD, then a Speech and Language Therapist should be assessing all areas of his speech and social interaction skills.  Many times a child appears to have no language difficulties because they can talk and communicate, yet when their ability to understand what is said to them is assessed it becomes clear that the child has moderate to severe difficulties.  He may have problems other problems such as auditory processing disorder, delayed auditory processing, Semantic Pragmatic Speech Disorder, auditory memory or working memory difficulties.  Any of those things is going to make it hard to do his work in class.  So if demands are being made on him at school, and he cannot do it because of language, social communication, sensory issues he is bound to get frustrated and presently the only way of showing that is by bad behaviour.  He needs to be taught other strategies in school.  He could and should be talk to use a 'help' card, or a 'timeout' card that he can use with a dedicated key worker (and they should be the main support he has in every class - changing the key worker causes more problems).  The school should have a time out area that he can go to.  Working with a dedicated key worker will enable them to get to know your son, so that they recognise all the signs that he is struggling, and this will help them to teach him how to monitor his own emotions.  An EP should be putting together a programme for understanding the emotions in himself and other people.  He should be motivated by being allowed to choose something he likes which will be built into his visual timetable.  For example, he maybe allowed to take a toy into school every day, and when he has completed his work and it is his 'choose time' he can use this toy.  That time can also be used for other skills he may need to learn, for example play or social interaction or language skills.
His initial reaction to a school change might have been he was relieved to have left the last school.  Then he quickly found out that in the new school he was still having problems.  Those on the spectrum also have problems with change, so part of his problems might be down to the fact that his new school does things differently and not as he expected them to be done.  As he is verbal I think you should be able to talk with him about things that happen at school and ask him specific questions eg. don't ask him 'why' did you get upset, because that is too open ended.  Ask him "did something at school make you very angry/mad/worred etc.  

[VH-Mr.Mom]

Been there! My oldest is in 1st grade and acted out in kindergarten, every morning he'd say he was going to behave himself then I'd get a phone call at about mid-day from the school. He grew out of it and is doing magnificently this year. So I'd say, give it time. I personally don't buy ADD and all the other clinical jargon that bureaucratic physicians place on us. People are quick to medicate and that's what I take issue with. There's no profit in a cure, but rather there IS profit in treatment. This is exactly what the institution of medicine is counting on, parents like us, who just want the best for their families.

My son was the same way, acted out at school but was fine at home. Consistency, dialogue with his teacher and school administrators, patience, nurture, discipline, CONSISTENCY, all these things helped him.  Pediatricians along with educators, family and friends are all part of the network in raising healthy, happy children. But the buck stops with Mom and Dad.  I would personally refrain from medicine, but I'm biased against that approach to begin with!

This is all conjecture of course, because no one really has all the answers. Best of luck!