My son (7m) has been having some behavioral issues in school. He was diagnosed with ADHD 2 years ago. He was originally medicated with Vyvanse, but we chose to remove him from the medication as it was causing terrible mood swings that resulted in emotional blowups. We have been trying our best to self teach him control and methods to combat his impulsivity, but recently he has been having issues with putting his hands on other students in school.
One was what he called a "prank" where he and a friend were running in from recess and he pushed the other boy down. The boy happened to run into the chain link fence and cut his hip. My son felt terrible, as his teacher truly does believe it was an accident, but he still hurt another student. The last incident happened today. My son brought some monster trucks to school. One of his friends was playing with one and my son "thought he was stealing it" and grabbed him and kicked him in the stomach.
My son has been taught over and over that he does not put his hands on people and we are a strict non-violence household outside of obvious self defense. I'm just lost. I don't want to stick him on a medication that's going to turn him into a zombie. I've seen it in people first hand, but also, he doesn't seem to be responding to the behavioral copes that we've tried to implement.
He sleeps well, sometimes needing help with Melatonin. He is beginning to explore more nutritious foods and we try to limit the amount of sugar he intakes. The biggest issue I think is overstimulating him is the screen time. He very much prefers video games in his free time, though with the weather being warmer, he has been playing outside more regularly.
I'm honestly just looking for some advice. This behavior does not happen at home, but it has happened twice in 3 weeks.