My youngest son had a ten day stay in a behavioral health center. I cant speak for all but it ended up making things worse for us at home when he got back. It was set up where the kids shared a room with several other kids all with different issues. They had play time/ gym, and other organized activities. They also had group counseling and individual. It sounded like camp. Our son is very manipulative and loved all the attention he was getting from staff. He would listen to the other kids and what they were doing or going through and tell the doctors that he was. By the end of the 10 day stay he had made up a whole bunch of "symptoms" and was being treated for them instead of the real ones. Not to mention he was exposed to and heard detailed stories from other kids about all types of sexual abuse or whatever else they had been through. He liked it so much there he didn't want to come home and he acted worse when we made him. For about 6 months after that he did everything in his power to try to get sent back there. Have you tried psychological testing? I think that might be a more accurate way of evaluating him without exposing him to some of the things he may learn about in a hospital setting.

It worked for us. We had some great doctors though. They were a team of specialists. There were child/adolescent psychiatrists, MD's, and psychotherapists. They see through the manipulation, and the behavior. My son was five and I must tell you, that he never wanted to go back. He had to behave appropriately, do what he was asked, and do all the tasks and tests required for evaluation. They had to hold him down during the blood draw, and he refuse to talk for a day. He did have a roommate the first night, but he left the next day to go home. It was one week of observation and testing, and one week of behavior therapy and meds. The second week we were invited to be part of treatment. The first week we weren't allowed to visit. The docs gave my son a diagnosis. They ruled out autism, tourettes, bi-polar, psychosis, other personality disorders and came to the consensus through testing, that he had ADHD/ODD. The second week we met with the doctors every day, and had a therapy session, and set in motion a plan to continue a behavior modification and meds plan, and continued therapy at home. We learned what to do and what not to do. Our son hated it there. He was very glad to be home. He was told by his docs, if you misbehave, and we get bad reports from mom and dad, you will have to come back and stay longer. There were ups and downs, but we got through them. There still are! But for us, it was a good experience. Good luck.

My son has been hospitalized twice. I was lucky both times and they really helped. The first time was when he was 6 and the last time was just October of this year. I felt they did a good job both times getting him stabilized, and diagnosed. They had very strict visitation which was hard but we made it through it. When looking into this just do your research.

My son was in twice because his behaviour got so bizarre and the first time they hadn't diagnosed him. He was 6 years old at the time. I used to have to restrain him for hours, the second time was actually for days, and when we got to the hospital they put us in the quiet room. He continued to attack me, and I kept oon him for 4 hours before he actually kicked me in the ribs and bit me. At that point I knew there was nothing else I could humanly do for him alone. I did the hardest thing I had done in my life and walked out on him. I remember sitting on the hallway floor crying and a nurse saying to me that I would be okay...I was floored! I told her I wasn't crying for me, I was crying for him because HE NEEDED HELP. Going through the whole thing was extremely difficult for all of us at the time, but he did get diagnosed, which was a blessing! I don't know what I would have done otherwise. However, I also agree with "sb116" on doing your research. Talk to your doctor and try to get some support. We didn't have any of that and I believe it would have made a huge difference for myself in helping him get through it all. It would have made the decisoin easier and I wouldn't have felt all alone. It did work out for us, and was probably his saving grace a few years after that when he really went off his nut. The emergency staff at least had a diagnosis to go with instead of a belligerent child who they could have seen as something other. It's a hard call no matter. What is in the best interest of your son? I am glad that I fought for him. I think now, in hindsight, that there could have been other ways to do it with medical support. Good luck!

I see this is an old post but I wanted to throw in my .02 cents .

My son was hospitalized for 14 days, came home for 7 and then was hospitalized for 8 more. 22 days out of 1 month he was in Children's Hospital in Seattle.
They were fabulous! He was tested, diagnosed and stabilized, put on meds, evaluated, etc. The testing they did there: neuropsych tests, speech and language tests, IQ, educational strengths, etc, was such a Godsend. The school was dragging their feet and would have taken 6 months to accomplish in 21 days at the hospital. Also, they had parenting classes for me to model the communication and boundaries the Psych Techs used there. The only downfall was that given my son's very young age, he had to be a 1:1 and had a staff that was just his 24/7. That set me up for problems at home because I can't be Miss FunFun all day, everyday.The other thing was at Children's they have a very liberal visitation, the first visit I was there atleast 16 hours a day, going home to sleep. The 2nd stay, I didn't visit as much. Some hospitals don't allow much visits, others are very liberal.

Hi there!

Well, my son went in 3 times, and I can't say that it did any long-term good. It did traumatize him, and he resented me. It hurt our relationship, even though I told him that I did it for his own good. And... he picked up a few negative behaviors from some of the other kids...plus the flu. But, I guess the evaluation was sort of helpful.

He eventually had 3 different medication cocktails (of which I'm scared now, because of side effects) and I was lucky enough to have a program recommended to me, which I still use with him, that was actually the answer to his behavior. So, no more hospital.

Take care and good luck with whatever you decide!

Kim