[Jill3303]

Does anyone have experience with putting a child with RAD into martial arts training?

On the up side, I have heard that it can help a child develop self discipline, self esteem and respect for authority - all of which my 8 year old son desperately needs. I am hoping that he could learn to walk away from a fight when other kids trigger him so easily.

On the down side, I frequently (1-6 times / week) have to restrain my son because he is so oppositional and becomes a danger to himself and/or me. My fear is that if I put him into martial arts he will learn the moves that will make it impossible for me to restrain him. . . . Then he really will run the house. :-)

The obvious solution is for me to take martial arts. But it's just not my thing.

Any experience with teaching martial arts to kids with violent behavior problems??

[lucyjoy]

A child requiring restraint should not be enrolled in anything as his time needs to be spent working on his life and attaching to you. Have you asked his therapist about this?

[Late Bloomer]

... because your child may be developmentally much younger than 8. Not knowing she had RAD at the time, I actually showed our adopted 12-y-o her a couple self-defense moves thinking it would ease the fears she expressed of being abducted or bullied. She seemed very "mature" in some ways, yet turned out not to have any qualms about hurting someone, and felt a need to "defend" herself when there was no danger (in reality). So until you've seen a lot of improvement in your son's attachment problem, I would steer clear of marshal arts. Maybe yoga? Hope you have an experienced attachment therapist you're working with. Best wishes!

[Dr. Art]

Until your child has received attachment therapy and is near the end of treatment and largely healed DO NOT begin such training. It is a very bad idea. Given how violent is your child, such training would be very dangerous. The training does not teach self-discipline. It focuses a child's self-discipline abilities; a child with impulse control problems and who cannot effectively regualte his or her affect cannot develop self-control from teaching. He or shel can only learn to regulate his or her affect through attachment therapy.

Regards

[hotspice58]

What about a child who has attachment disorders but not necessarily RAD? I had a 14 yo fs who I put in martial arts. (At the time, I had never heard of attachment or RAD). My teenager was and still is bonded with one of his sisters, so I think he suffers more from attachment disorders than RAD.

[mommytoEli]

yeah, I tried this, and they started beating the crap out of kids at school. When I tried to pull them out, the instructor told me the problem stemmed from home, he must be experiencing violence in the home....I tried to explain he did, just not my home, but it wasn't very successful. I will never again put children in martial arts that are not COMPLETELY grounded mentally in every way possible!

[fungi7]

This is my 1st time here hope this is how things are done. I was wondering the same thing. However, the other day our 7 yr old who has rad, adhd, odd, bi-polar ( how can one body hold all that?) was doing his screaming routine and I gave him some wood blocks nails and hammer. Thinking this would calm him down having something constructive to hit. Fine for a few minutes until he went again with his anger and started whirling the hammer. So, if he learned karate would I have to have a black belt to defend myself since he can't control his mood and emotions?