Sometimes your kid with ADHD acts out aggressively and you have no idea why.
You think about the situation s/he was in and can’t figure out what the trigger was, right?
Consider that the trigger occurred earlier, before this situation even arose.
S/he was looking forward to their favorite cereal and was disappointed to find you were fresh out.
Your already anxious child who believes a good day happens when everything goes right now believes the day started off poorly so the day is ruined.
Now your child is simmering from the trigger event of disappointment but holding it together pretty well.
But s/he’s fretting and slowly escalating.
Then your child enters a situation (e.g. social) that puts a strain on their executive functions until they become unable to process, become overwhelmed and go into fight or flight.
If you have your child tell you the story of their day you may stumble across the trigger.
