I have no idea what to do about this child anymore. She is about 15 months and I have been caring for her for 6 months. She throws terrible fits all day long if I am not paying 100% attention to her. After meals/snacks, as soon as she is done she will scream to be taken out of her chair immediately. Even if I turn a corner she will cry and throw herself on the ground. I feel so bad for the other children in my care that have to listen to her screaming all day. I can't successfully do any activities with them because she is constantly screaming. I can't/won't hold her all day. I have talked to mom about it but i get the feeling they give in to her fits which is not helping. I don't want to term, but I know I may have to. Does anyone have any advice on how to curb this behavior before I officially give up because nothing I'm doing is helping

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All I can offer is empathy for the situation . I was there and I could only last two weeks so kudos to you for lasting 6 months. Kids who suffer from attachement issues are by far the hardest to deal with.

Things I have tried:
- Reminder to use your words
- Letting her know she will only get out of her chair or whatever the situation is if she stops screaming. So keeping her in her high chair until she stops screaming no matter how long it takes.
- Removing her completely from the area to be by herself when she is screaming. She is allowed to return when she has stopped screaming.
- Giving attention only when calm and not screaming.

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I had a foster child like this. My pediatrician recommended putting him in a pack and play in a different room (alone) during his tantrums and telling him that it's not OK to scream. The very moment he quit screaming, I picked him up and lavished attention on him. It took about 6-8 weeks, but it worked.

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That's a hard one. It WILL stop, but the question is can you stick it out until it does? At this age, she should really be using some words. Is she verbal at all? Usually, screaming like this is done out of frustration because she can't communicate. She wants to say 'down' in order to get out of her seat, but she doesn't know the word to use, so she screams.

I would work with her at every meal time on this. When she's just about finished, try to catch her before she starts screaming and ask 'Suzy wants down?'. She may still scream at first, but she'll eventually pick up the word down and realize that it gets her what she wants. Do this with the other kids too so that she sees/hears them saying they want down and that using the word works for them.

You can do this with anything she's crying over. 'Suzy wants milk?', 'Suzy wants baby doll?', etc. Once she learns that words work far better than screaming, it'll slack off significantly.

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Thanks for the suggestions! Everything everyone has said is pretty much what I have been doing and I have been wondering if I'm doing it all wrong lol I make her stay in her seat until she's done screaming and if she is throwing a fit any other time, I put her in the pack and play in the side room until she stops and then I take her out...then repeat...over and over again (today this went on for 3 hours) She is very verbal, says many words and will repeat many things I say (except for please but thats a battle im not trying to pick right now haha). I know she is very smart and knows exactly what she's doing (screaming for attention, even though she gets PLENTY) it's just so hard to do it day in and day out! *Sigh* Is it Friday yet...

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I feel you! I think the last straw for me was when we were outside on a beautiful sunny day and she kept screaming for the whole hour we were out. There was a creek behind my house and I really wanted to go jump in it . That evening .i termed

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