My mood has lummet the past week cause it semes everythong we try ends in failure

He's lost most of his privileges

*plummet my mood

remind me again what Gabi's age is

3 years old and 4 months

There's a high chance he is ADHD. I say this cause it runs in both families and most of his cousins have been diagnosed (he can't until hes 4 or 5 tho)

makes sense

okay. So mind that under 6 is not usually my wheel house but I do have some pedagogy background

has there been any changes in his routine lately?

He's also the youngest in his daycare class

and also have the adults in his class noticed anything different?

sometimes, if they've tried really hard to manage during the school/daycare hours they're just....done by the time they get home so if the behaviour is different between the two then there's one possible thing

if he can speak to his feelings then talking about why he feels frustrated when he's calm may help but this age can be a little iffy about these things

I think, without knowing Gabi or seeing what's happening in person my advice would be to observe and start a notebook with notes

Okay I will do that

have it set up so the margin has date and time and the right side of that has observational notes like 'hit door'

I did ask about his feelinga but he just smiles and laughs and goes back to hitting

'shouted' 'laughed while hitting'

etc

since it sounds like you do plan to get an evaluation, this will be helpful as well

you can bring it with you to show the evaluator

I can't show you my examples because they're for students and privacy and all that but I keep similar notes for a couple of them

Yeah I'll keep some notes

there are also patterns that will crop up that may not be immediately obvious

He's in time out and just keeps jumping on his bed

what is time out supposed to look like?

in your notebook you may also want to track his meals. What he ate, how much of it he ate, when he ate, etc

2-3 minutes in his room

At least originally

are there expectations for what he's supposed to do in time out?

That used to workbut now he keeps making it worse

Mostly calm down and take deep breathes

okay

so

start the observations. Don't try to decide what is relevant, write down what he's doing and what he does after. Note down his meals and his eating habits

it does sound like the possibility of him having ADHD sounds high so these will help highlight any patterns and even if not, when he's old enough for a diagnosis these are notes that can help

only record objective, observable facts/actions

maybe get some sticks and a chart/book for them to be stuck on. Have like. Three-five colours or something. Have set moments in the day where he comes and ranks how he's feeling via putting down a sticker in the right time slot.

if he knows his numbers he can rank it from 1 to 5

the Color Monster book might be a good resource for this

read it together, learn the meanings of the colours and match them

Oh I'll look that up that sounds good

if what you're doing isn't working there's probably been some change internally and the goal right now should be to figure out where and why that change is

He fid get a book and read by himself, for example, then started to hit the book after a while

if you haven't, ask how he is at daycare. If the staff there are willing and they see some of this see if they can also do observations

also, you might want to restructure time out. It could be that taking breaths isn't enough now. Have something he's supposed to do during that time. If colouring is calming maybe that

but honestly, for children this age I've seen them just.....sort beans

again, not my wheel house so I am short of actual activities but you know him and can figure that part out

fingerknitting is also a nice one

but you're doing fine

children can be weird especially at this age

you're doing your best. You're not doing anything wrong. It's just that your child is growing and sometimes that means you need to pivot. Change up your approach

I hope this helps

my wheelhouse is. way older than three but keeping track of it all can really help, even if it seems like A Lot

to be honest, under 6 is so out of my wheel house sometimes it feels like they're aliens not humans asfhbaslkfhl

isPBS KIDSavailable up there? we found that when alex had been acting out like that a little, some of the strategies and little jingles they do in daniel tiger's neighborhood have really helped

i think seeing a character that's relatable and around the same age, with a firm but gentle grown-up introducing the strategy has helped a lot

alex is autistic, but that specific kind of modeling was something we did a lot in the program we did after he was diagnosed and it was something that we were glad to see being shown with a kid character he related to

The Color Monster - Read Aloud by Mr. Joshua Brooks

the book

Thank you all! And update...he napped for 3 hours so we suspect he's having issues breathing at night due to a cold which is not helping him with emotions

that would definitely be a problem. Speaking personally. I definite;y have a harder time when I don't get a good night's sleep

He woke up later this morning but I think it wasn't enough