i don't think the boy is doing this to be mean. he is far to young to understand malice or ill will. he is old enuff to understand pain. i have two suggestions. 1. when this happens, at least for the first few times, gather him up in your arms,thak him some place un simulating like the garage. reassure him that your roll in life is to make sure that he is happy and healthy and that you can see that he is hurting. work with him on the level or problem solving the feelings not the disrespectfull and hurtfull nature of his actions. I am the mother of an ebd kid who has several learning disorder. I deal with out burts due to inexperence and fustration on a daily basis. The second is this: always rule out something medical that way you can deal with this for what it is, whatever it turns out to be. This could be a behaioral disturbance due to his diet to low grade (and difficult to diagnose) autism, to pediatric schizophrenia ... it happens it breaks my heart to see it but it happens. as a mothe i am sure you know that when dealing with the young it is always better to deal with the problem on thier level. seems to me that you need to determine his level.