My son is 5 in May and I desperately need some advice. Recently his behaviour has gone completely out of control with acts of aggression and verbal abuse to me and I have tried everything inc praise, time out, taking away toys etc etc.. He just isn't bothered by anything I do and repeats the act. On top of this he wont actually talk to me! He will speak about general things but not about anything personal ie came home with scratch on face but tried to hide it and absolutely would not talk about it. If anything happens in his life 'out of the norm' he just flips. For instance he tripped over on his way to school and refused to go into his classroom but wouldn't say why. I believe it was because he was embarassed about tripping up but how do I deal with this as it's getting much much worse and happended again this morning. His school is aware of the problem and they are currently monitoring his around other children as he very much takes a 'back seat' approach to his playing and can be very isolated at time.
Please help

Sounds to me like you little boy may be bullied. He needs to know that it doesn't mean anything bad about him and that he is worthy and loved. don't punish, don't time out, and don't say anything that implies that he is less than great and loved. He is not sharing with you probably because you are trying to change his behavior.
This makes him feel that you are not on his side.

The most important thing is to help him feel safe to speak to you. Emotional isolation is the worst. In the book, Raising Our Children, Raising Ourselves (get from amazon) there is a long chapter on the importance of self-expression, and another chapter on how to make sure your child feels safe to speak his heart out. Once he speaks, you can help him solve issues.

thank you for this advice and you hit the nail straight on the head when you said about bullying as his teacher mentioned this yesterday when I picked him up. I've ordered the book as suggested.
Many thanks