ODD

WOW, the females in his family and home must receive no respect from the men. This is tough one.

ODD is a pretty difficult problem for sure. I think that he needs to learn how to adjust to different types of authority figures in school. As long as those teachers offer structure, consistancy, and have a working knowledge of behavior management, he will be OK. To move may make matters worse.
As far as respect at home, from my experience and research, many kids who have been classified with ODD do NOT behave the same way at home as they do in school, and there are some who have terrible behavior at home and are wonderful in school! Lets be careful not to blame the parents as many are wonderful parents just trying to figure out what has happened to their child. The one thing that struck me while doing research, attending workshops, etc. is that there rarely seems to be a specific reason for their behaivior so it is difficult to head it off . We are trained to the ABC technique of behavior management and that still works, but there often needs to be more.You may find that this boy does respect women, but only certain ones, and who knows why.
Good luck!

From what I can tell, ODD, like ADHD is probably a brain-based predisposition. Good parenting alone will not cure or necessarily prevent, however it may lessen the ODD behaviors. I ran into an article linked on educationnews.org yesterday. Perhaps it is still up.

Thanks Anitya and cat for your input and the reference to the article. I didn’t mean to imply that it was the family’s fault that this child has O.D.D. We are just trying to explore what would be the best learning environment for this child. I agree that he needs to learn to adapt to many different learning situations, however I also want to be sensitive to his strengths. Thanks again.

Anitya,

Don’t know where you got your info but I must disagree - while kids with ADHD may exhibit oppositional/defiant behaviors, children who meet the criteria for ODD do not necessarily meet the criteria for ADHD. There also has been no evidence of an “organic” cause for these oppositional behaviors. No medication has been proven effective. Innate temperment, personality, environment,and external stressors more likely play a role in the onset of these behaviors than anything else.

To the concerned teacher - transfering the child to a school with a male teacher is not the answer but a meeting with the teaching staff, school or private psych and the parents may be. Everyone should be on the same page with this child and * consistancy* as well as struture is important. I’d also suggest “Your Defiant Child” by Russell Barkley, PhD. There is a parent book as well as one for professionals.

Best of luck to you.

Dr. Daniel Amen believes he has found brain-based evidence via imaging techniques. I also read a study where they found that ODD might originate in the same part of the brain as OCD, but a different manifestation.

Russell Barkley is a good source. I believe in reading his works, and that of other researchers to get a more complete picture of what may be going on.

There is no question in my mind that ODD children are often born that way, that they manifest very ODD behaviors from a very young age and that they are difficult to parent. Poor parenting skills can exacerbate the issues, to be sure.

With all things difficult to understand (and to treat), theories abound. Science seeks to make sense out of that which is perplexing. An “organic” cause for behavoirs such as seen in children (and adults) with oppositional defiant disorder may be sought because it would seem to make treatment so much easier and also absolve the afflicted individual of responsiblity. Clearly we have seen this occur in psychiatry today on several fronts.

To date I have seen no solid research come from any widely accepted groups of investigators re: an organic cause for ODD.

How could you deal with this young man’s major problem if you isolate him from it? He certainly could use a male mentor - one with a deep respect for women. If he breaks the law and is a danger to himself or others - do not hesitate to charge him legally. If a child is not in the legal system, the resources of the community are not, and will not be available until an established need is presented.

Refer to the “cingulate” system in the brain.

Dr. Daniel Amen has identified an overactive cingulate system as probably being involved in both OCD and ODD. This seems to cause the individual to get stuck on things, in the case of ODD, “NO.”

I copied and read a study last year that supported this same conclusion, done by another researcher. I am sorry, I do not keep copies of everything I read, I read too much.

There may well be brain-based causes that contribute significantly to ODD and this may explain why some children are oppositional from a relatively young age, and others are not; even within the same family.

As far as I know, while it is not socially acceptable, it is not *illegal * for children to be to be disrespectful to adults. I believe we are talking about a 10 - 11 yr old here. Unless he threatens physical harm or acts upon it , there is no basis for prosecution and then you are actually talking about a conduct disorder - not oppositional/defiaint disorder. Children are oppositional for many reasons. I do not have the same faith in our legal/public services system that you seem to. Perhaps this young boy has respect for his male teacher because of the way in which the man treats him, not necessariliy because he is male. Why is the child in a resource room for almost half the day? Does he have a learning disability? Is it being correctly addressed? The frustration of dealing with an LD can set the stage for oppositional behavior; so can feeling bad about yourself, your social situation, your homelife, etc., etc.,etc. When everthing is so hard, it’s just so much easier (in the mind of a child) to say “NO” and push everybody away - because, after all “they really don’t care about me or like me anyway.” Children do not think the way adults do. I knew of a little boy (8yr) who was a classic ODD. Fragments of an overheard conversation led him to surmise that he was adopted. Years later, when this was revealed by him and proven to be an incorrect assumption, he had a significant improvement in his behavior. Strange but true, yet an example of different is the mind of a child.

Lenore, Everyone interacting with this child both at home and at school needs to be on the “same page”, so to speak. If you haven’t read the book, “The Explosive Child” by Ross W. Greene, then get it right away. And make sure this child’s family also uses this book. There’s a website by the same name.

The techniques given in this book are tried and true. I’ve followed Greene’s guidelines in working as a teacher with several kids with ODD. More than anything else, it takes consistency along with a heavy dose of compassion to help these kids.