help please

miheya82

New Member
hello dears,
my son is 9 year old and has an aggressive behavior due to mental retardation. i have tried all kinds of Medicines (concerta- risperdal...) now he's taking risperdal with tegretol to control his aggressive behavior with no improvement. i am trying ti find other solutions like switching to another medication (depakote or depakene for ex). i would appreciate your advise in case you have an idea about these medications and if they have positive effect by controlling his aggressive behavior
 

InsaneCdn

Well-Known Member
Medication may not be the only factor. Have you considered trying diet changes? Some kids are affected by food dyes, for example. Gluten intolerance and dairy intolerance can both affect behavior. I don't know all of the potential foods and additives, but I know that diet can be a huge factor.
 

Eric@mreed223

New Member
Medication along with proper exercises and dieting would work. Try to make him always cool, happy and relaxed. Make the environment favourable to him and his moods. God bless!
 

my son's mom

New Member
You note that your son has mental retardation Do you mean that he is on the autistic spectrum? If so, I can tell you that the medications used to treat ADHD or ADD (which are usually stimulants) are not absorbed by those on the spectrum in the same way as other patients, and so they are ineffective. Perhaps your son needs one of the atypical mood stabilizers like Risperdal or Abilify. They have side effects but not as many a some other classifications of drugs. And they can cut down the aggressiveness (not stop it). Also, i would ask, is your son depressed? Males tend to express depression through aggression. If so, then anti depressant medications might be a consideration. Additionally the more exercise he can get, the better for mood stabilization. Hope thi help a bit.
 

BusynMember

Well-Known Member
Autism is not being mentally slow. You are assuming he has a neurological difference and the poster didn't say that. My own son is on the spectrum and bright.

If the poster is in the U.S., my advice is to get your child a neuropsychological (different from a nerology) assessment. They do very thorough, often very accurate assessments that can take two days and last ten hours. Often they catch things that others miss.

There is no point in treating something if you aren't sure of what you need to treat.
 
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Jon777

New Member
Very sorry about the difficulties. You might want to think about joining a (real world) support group of other parents of children with similar issues. You could brainstorm with them and also get support. You might also want to think about getting into therapy yourself, as the stresses of raising such a child can be serious enough as to require some level of intervention.

And, in therapy, one of the things to discuss would be stress management. In a sense you might want to start creating a "village" to help raise the child, and not take the entire burden on yourself, thus causing huge stresses and problems resulting from that.

We all like to think we are superhuman, until we crash and it is proven otherwise.

As far as the aggressive behavior is concerned, I would try to find some experts in that specific area and see what they say. For example, are there physical activities that help calm such a child? Is the child getting enough exercise? If otherwise healthy, would long walks help? Would some kind of repetitive activity help calm the mind --- for an adult, one might think about macrame....though I am sure needles and such are not a good idea for the child.

Perhaps gardening, well supervised?

The idea being that the aggressive behavior is some kind of suppressed desire for more freedom? I don't know...

best of luck


hello dears,
my son is 9 year old and has an aggressive behavior due to mental retardation. i have tried all kinds of Medicines (concerta- risperdal...) now he's taking risperdal with tegretol to control his aggressive behavior with no improvement. i am trying ti find other solutions like switching to another medication (depakote or depakene for ex). i would appreciate your advise in case you have an idea about these medications and if they have positive effect by controlling his aggressive behavior
 
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