My now 4 year old son had a traumatizing event with his Pediatrician…

He has a cleaning scheduled in January with his dentist and no scheduled doctor appointments until his 5 year check up in March (unless he gets sick before that time).

At school, his teachers tell me he is not listening, quick to throw a tantrum, occasionally shows aggression by throwing toys, jerks away from the teachers and will try to run & hide under tables when they attempt to redirect him or punish him. I have also noticed that his behavior worsens when a new teacher or assisstant is presented to the class. It seems he has developed a good relationship and trust for one of his teachers that has followed him from his 3 year class to his current Pre-K class.

As a side note I also see him get very upset, jerk away and freak out when a friend, coach or teacher tries to physically direct him or hug him.

The pediatrician experience was mild (and maybe not have impacted him had the dentist part not followed). His pediatrician scratched his ear with the odynoscope at one of his sick visits, so at the next visit he saw the odynoscope and said "no" when she tried to look in his ear. She advised me to hold him in my lap and wrap my arms around him. While he was still wiggling she pushed the odynoscope in his ear and perforated his ear drum. A few weeks later we went to the dentist and he was pretty squirmy & nervous. They restrained him during the exam and forced the plastic things in his mouth for x-rays causing him to throw up. They said he needed to be sedated to have fillings placed. At that appointment while he was still awake they restrained him with actual cloth restraints and forced his head into some sort of holder, then gave him a shot to put him to sleep. He fought every bit of that and he remembers it and cries about being tied up. I was told later that they call those type of dentists "puppy mills" and obviously have never been back.

OK.