4 yr old with down syndrome

[crhinevault]

I am  a first time mom to a 4yr old son with down syndrome.  Recently he has been having behavior isses such as hitting me and at times he just seems angry and nothing makes him happy. I have been having crying meltdowns because I dont know why he acts this way. As anyone else experienced this? I have read abour behavior specialists would this help? If it helps im all for it but I really dont want to throw more therapy into my already crazy schedule.

Thank Cindy

[fung]

From my experience, behaviour issues for all children are alike, special need child or not, they express the same pattern for every problem they first encountered. But  for special need children, they need to be taught how to react properly, while the other kid mostly can do it themself. Ds child has a lot of limitation in speech, Fine motor and cognitive issues , quite a lot to make them distress, unhappy and angry because nobody understand him.
I think that's what happen to your son. As a mom, you have to try hard to understand what your son is trying to tell you . Make your own way to communicate with your son so you can understand each other. Once he felt understood, his behaviour issue will improve.
Good luck

[wales12]

Me again.... just one more thing, my daughter has a good understanding of what's  being said to her and asked of her, her speech is improving but, I believe her lack of vocabulary is very frustrating to her. I ask her to point out things, or hold her hand and ask her to show me what she wants. It works sometimes. I always give her choices as well, she is more in control and relaxed. Sorry if I'm rambling on, just trying to think of reasons and solutions. Hope it's of some help.  

[wales12]

Hi, my daughter will be 4 in July and has several behavioural issues. She can be aggressive with family members but is fine with other children, thank goodness! She also blows raspberries at everybody to get attention, adults think this is very funny even when I tell them I'm trying to discourage this. We have tried lots of suggestion, not much works although I find keeping as calm as you can(difficult I know) helps my daughter, I explain in words she can understand and a tone that she knows It's not a good thing, then distract her, by asking if she would like to read a book or play a game. I know it's not ideal but shouting at her doesn't work and actually just makes her more aggressive. We have an appointment with a behavioral therapist on Wednesday as I believe early intervention is important, I find with my daughter that she only has to see or try something once and she never forget. It's trial and error, day by day and life is never boring!! Good luck x