My 3 year old had a normal birth, but has always had some quirky things. He was acid reflux, lactose, intolerant, asmatic, etc. He was failure to thrive and was tested for Cystic fibrosis, which he did not have. He has started to gain weight now and has grown out of the lactose intolerant. We do have a 5 year old and a 14 month old so he is the middle child. He has some OCD tendencies where he likes things certain ways, but usually it isnt too severe. He has two types of trantrums, both controlled and uncontrolled. The controlled tantrums if we say no consist of a fake cry and wine. He is corrected in whatever manner is effective. We have tried bending down to his level and explaining the situation, spanking, timeouts, taking toys away, hugging him, etc. Controlled tantrums are usually done and over with fairly quickly and he usually shows remorse and apologizes when applicable. His uncontrolled episodes are so much more different that a normal tantrum I have seen from my kids or others. Many times these are triggered by random little things but are most prevalent in the car or around dinner time. He will be in the car in his car seat and he will complain about something like "My shirt is not down all the way" we will reach over and pull it down and ask if that is okay, etc. It will move onto another issue. He will cry and say he has an itch (he will get 3 or four and he will only want one parent to itch it) he will say his nose it dripping, his eyes need wiped, it is too loud, it is too bright, he will wiggle and cry and no matter what will not calm down. These fits can last up to an hour with him crying and carrying on. We are not embarrassed when this happens but we get concerned for him. When in these fits he looks like he is uncomfortable in his own skin. He looks afraid when he gets to that point, as though he was out of control and really could not calm himself until we figure out how to help him. He shows no remorse at this time. When he is normal he will go weeks without an uncontrolled episode but when he has one it is usually like that for a multitude of days. We are struggling to determine how to help him what what things we can do to stop these. We have had 3 counseling sessions but they have told us to read and book on parenting. Any ideas?
Tags: determine, disorders, et, issues, mental, Physical, processing, Sensory