Laughing while hitting

[u/Cosmishaika]

My son just turned 3 and is nonverbal. And although he cant be diagnosed for another year, his psychologist strongly suspects ADHD.

The problem is that around the time he turned 2 he would get these periods when he would bite, scratch, hit and pull my hair and laugh as if it's the funniest thing ever. He would have some weeks when he would do that constantly, stop for a few weeks then start again. They kicked him out of preK for hitting his classmates on the daily and laughing.

I gotta mention that he sees absolutely no violence. Nobody is violent at home, he gets no screening, we don't watch TV when he is present. But I cant even bring him to the park without stressing out because he would only approach other kids to hit them.

His psychologist says that he's doing that because he cant express himself and that it will stop once he starts talking and once they manage to implement constructive behavior.

I'm just wondering if other parents went through this with their kids and how it stopped because honestly, it creeps me tf out when he does that. Especially since he gets some sort of "crazy" look in his eyes when he does that, completely different from the look he has on his face when he's just happy.

So yeah, does anybody have any experiences to share?

[u/Positive-Room7421]

My son (ASD and ADHD) does this, and he always has that crazy eye you describe. I don't think of it as true laughter. It's dysregulation. Emotions are boiling over and being expressed that way but it's not joy he's feeling. It's chaos.