Originally Posted by ngdawg

In 4th grade, when he beat the kid over the head with his lunchbag(which gives me a chuckle now, but it wasn't funny then), I was called to the school to speak with the principal. He feared for my son's emotional future-recollecting Columbine. He had been verbally lashing out at tormenters, of which there was no short supply and then the hitting.
I took him to a behavioral therapist and the questionaire given me pointed completely to ADD. We had already known my son has a behavioral allergy to sodium nitrates and controlled his intake of processed foods-too much and he would be belligerent, throw temper tantrums, be unable to control talking and zone out.(anyone reading this who has had trouble with some behaviors should look into this allergy-it's more common than people realize)
After over a year of behavioral therapy, we went as far as we could with it and his ADD lessened. Since I refuse to medicate him, we have to be vigilant at times, repeating ourselves without yelling, reteaching and reenforcing rules. These things are exacerbated by the fact that we are dealing with a 13 year old boy with the mental intelligence of an adult but the emotions of a child.
Studies have shown that the frontal lobes(they control civilized thinking) do not fully form until about 18-21 years of age. It is why teenagers seem to make so many thoughtless mistakes and social blunders. By enforcing family and societal rules of behavior, we can put them on the right path of societal acceptability. The hard part comes in doing this, yet still allowing them to be free thinkers not bound by rigidities and false values.