Out Of Control 11 Year Old Son, With Abnormal Sleep

by K
(Lehi, UT)

My 11 year old son has always had trouble sleeping. We let him cry himself to sleep when he was a baby and that seemed to work really great.

He disliked being alone when he was little. He had tons of energy and was into EVERYTHING! When he was between 6-8 he acted out at home and we waited for his teachers to tell us he was acting out in class but it never happened. They said he did well in school.

Fast forward to the last 2 years and honestly his behavior has been a huge trial for our family. He has been diagnosed with Sensory Processing Disorder, ADHD, and has learning disabilities. His behavior is very erractic. He can go from the nicest kid in the world to yelling and screaming and having an emotional meltdown the next second. He has always been a very emotional child.

The point is after reading this site, I think a lot of his problems have occured because of his abnormal sleep. He goes to bed between 7:30 and 8. Dad reads for a good half hour and then it is bed time. He does not have to go to sleep right away but he has to stay in bed. Just this week we moved him into a room by himself because he cannot stop bugging whoever is in the room with him. We have tried his other 3 brothers and he just wont leave them alone. They fall asleep fine, but he bothers them and wakes them up. So we have removed anything that could be a distraction except books.

The last 3 nights have been good going to sleep (which means before midnight) but before then we would think he was asleep and it would be 10, 11, or midnight and he would still be awake). He was always tired at school and not a morning person at all.

We found after the fact that when we were asleep he would get up and go get things to do. Like read his sisters books, or get the ipod and play on that which we put a stop to immediately. The thing is the kid is just having a really hard time in life. He starts something and wants to stop halfway through, has no real passion that he loves to do. Video games make him extremely aggressive where he ends up yelling at everyone, yet he loves video games so we only play the non aggressive types like mario cart.

I just want to help the poor kid. I want him to be a well adjusted adult that has a love for life. He was such a good and happy baby with a great laugh and amazing smile. If you met them both now you would not think they were the same kid.

He is in counseling and we are trying to stick it out because we have bounced from doctor to doctor, but I am just not sure if this doctor is working out for us. Help!