angry 4 year old

[nannyme]

my 4 year old has grown increasingly aggressive. We moved in October from the west coast where he was a very thoughtful fun caring little boy, With a very sweat disposition. To the east coast where he has become more and more aggressive. He talks of death all the time. He goes from being fine to being very angry in a matter of seconds. He is biting himself when he is board, and today I find out from his teacher that he scratched another child on the face (it was an unprovoked incident.) On another occasion he began punching a little boy in the chests with both hands, the director of the school witnessed this and pulled him aside. My 4 year old then began to yell at the director of his school. I don't know what to do for him. We have taught him to have respect for adult. He is not allowed to watch anything violent on TV, he is not aloud to play guns or even pretend his hand is a gun. We do not allow him to talk to any adult in a rude manner. Are there any books you can recommend that we read? Also do you think its a faze, or should we seak counseling for him?

thank you
nannyme

[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!

[Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D.]

It would definitely be prudent to arrange an evaluation. When children's lives are turned upside down, as they are with major relocations, behavioral upset can surely result. On the other hand, it may be that the behavior and the move are not really related. This is why it's a good idea to investigate this. One way or the other the behavior has to be managed, but reaching some conclusion about the reasons for the behavior will be an important feature in figuring out what to do about it.