8Yr old son diagnosed as an ODD

[jd19]

My 8 yr old son had a very disturbed night sleep, shouting and kicking his feet and moving arms and legs.
After seeing a neurologyst, we put him on medication, Tegretol.
We thought that his daily behaviour was due to him not having a very good sleep. He then started to sleep well, but his bad behaviour just kept on worstnening.
He is a very very bright boy, learn to read and write prior to school, best grades in his class, but is always picking on his younger brother (4yrold) and not realizing the extent of his behaviour with friends, whenever playing with them. He often becomes aggressive. It is hard for him to lose when playing games and puts himself to cry when he feels frustrated.
We then started Ritalin, but it did not make any effect, he started to sleep less and his behaviour got worst.
We went back to Tegretol 2x a day, but he does not get any better on his behaviour.
Whwnever challenged to be rewarded for good behaviour, he can cope to some extent, but all of a sudden he just loses his temper.
Is this an ODD symptom......
Would like to hear from others what can I do to improve him.
I feel like such a waste having such a clever boy with such a behaviour.

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

The symptoms do not immediately suggest Oppositional Defiant Disorder, though it is possible. Rather than Disruptive Behavior Disorder, I'd investigate the possibility of a Mood Disorder. Is there any family history of Mood Disorder (e.g., depression, bipolar disorder)? Whatever the case, you'll need to employ a systematic program of behavior management. Two books you might want to take a look at are Lynn Clark's SOS: Help for Parents, and Ross Greene's The Explosive Child. By the way, an additional benefit your son might be receiving from the Tegretol is diminishment of his anger, though that was not the reason the medication was introduced.

[mompy]

My son had been diagnosed with AD/OD and was unmanageable. I discovered the book, Is This Your Child? by Doris Rapp. She has several other books including Is This Your Child's World? Go to: www.drrapp.org  The basic message is that there are a whole host of behaviors and phyiscal symptoms that could be caused by food intolerances and/or environmental allergies.  Check it out!

We found through elimination diets that our son's explosive/angry behavior was caused by corn products. Removing corn from his diet has given us our son back. We also questioned bipolar disorder and depression. There is some evidence of bipolar symptoms in my husband's family. I believe now these symptoms are/were probably undiagnosed food intolerances.

It is a lot of work to change your diet. We basically eat only whole foods. It beats dosing out the paxil everyday - trust me!