What to do about aggression? (Long post)

January 30, 2011

Hi, everyone. I am fairly new here. . . have been reading your posts and I

posted a few weeks ago about Abilify. This is my second post. I am always a

little scared to put myself " out there " on these kinds of forums, but today has

me worried, so here goes.

My 6 year old DS with AS was doing okay up until the beginning of this month. .

.. he was taking Abilify (also Tegretol for seizures) and for the months of

November & December was just great. . . no more of a problem than my other kids.

Then it was like someone switched the medicine off and he went back to

screaming, hitting, refusing to do anything and holing up in his room with his

Legos. The dr. increased his Abilify 2 weeks ago. The screaming seems to be

better, but the aggression is still a big problem.

So today he was supposed to be cleaning his room (1 million legos all over the

floor!!) and my 3 year old went in and bothered him I guess. Because next thing

I know, the 3 year old DS comes downstairs screaming with a bloody lip and a

scratch on his eye and bite marks on his back. I waited a few minutes and then

went upstairs to talk to DS. I told him that I would be taking his Legos until

he finished his chores that were supposed to be done yesterday, and that his

behavior would determine when he got them back. I haven't taken Legos away in a

long time, because they are his current special interest, but I was feeling

pretty desperate.

He started screaming at me, then threatening me, " If you take my Legos, I'll

kill you! " I stayed calm as I know I'm supposed to do, but he lunged at me and

tried to bite my face. I managed to stay calm and get him off of me, but then

when I bent over to pick up the Legos, he jumped on my back and started whacking

me repeatedly on both sides of my face. Then he grabbed my hair and yanked it

backwards. I had to call my husband to come and get him off of me. I am just at

a loss to know what to do. He is currently on 4 mg of Abilify and while it

worked great when we first started it, it seems to be doing nothing now.

I can't believe I'm saying it, but I feel scared of my own child. I am scared

of what he might do to his siblings, and I am scared of what he could do to me

when he gets bigger. He packs a pretty good punch right now. Should we try a

different medication? We do social stories, and a points system . . but nothing

is working. Oh, and apparently he has none of these problems at school.

Certainly not with threatening or being aggressive toward his teachers. Any

ideas?

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