need help

Sunshine

Thank you for your post and welcome to ADHDCentral. I understand how frustrating your situation can be, and sometimes, the impulsiveness of children with ADHD can add to siblings fighting and arguing.

Are your sons in therapy? A behavior modification program might work well for you and usually a therapist can help you to set up behavioral strategies in your home.

In addition, it is probably important to get your older son back to the doctor and have the diagnosis and treatment started again.

Often, when I receive emails from parents who are extremely frustrated with their child's behavior, I suggest starting at the beginning, visiting a doctor and making sure you have the correct diagnosis and if so, the right medication. Different people react differently to different medications. It is important to find the right medication and the right doage but this is frequently a matter of trial and error so patience is definately required.

You have noticed your son is more aggressive taking the Risperdal. Contact your doctor and let him or her know this and ask for a different medication.

Some articles you might also be interested in:

Coping Strategies for Siblings

The Out Of Control Child

Strategies for Parenting Children with ADHD

Creating a Discipline Process at Home

Siblings and Mental Illness

I hope this helps, please keep in touch to let us know how it all works out.

Eileen

Hi there,

I have two boys ages 6 and 7.  The older one definitely dominates my younger son and is aggressive and bossy towards him.  When my younger son has had enough he also cries and gets upset.  They have both been diagnosed with ADHD.  My younger sons is more on the hyper side than the 7 year old but they both have compulsive and sometimes dangerous behavior.  They both just started Adderall yesterday and I could be crazy but my husband I both noticed no fighting - at least not until around 6:00 when the meds wore off.  I plan to only give them meds during school as I have learned to live with their insanity.  Actually, I thought that was how all boys are.  Good luck - get your older son diagnosed again as soon as possible and see if it helps.  My older son is a wonderful bright young man.  I just believe that he is so frustrated and angry with trying to deal with the attention issues at school that he takes it out on the one he loves - his brother, and most of the time - his best friend.