subject: Oppositional Defiance Disorder - Learning The Facts In Order To Better Protect Your Child [print this page] Oppositional Defiance Disorder - Learning The Facts In Order To Better Protect Your Child
You may think that the parents are the ones who need protection when trying to deal with a child who has oppositional defiance disorder (ODD)! Of course the reality is different in that we have to learn how to raise a child like that and protect him or her from falling into bad company or simply ensure that we can give them adequate life skills.
The first fact is that ADHD and ODD seem to occur very frequently together and because of this they are called co-morbid disorders. Oppositional defiance disorder is seen as a serious psychiatric condition and there are now estimates that it may appear alongside ADHD in between 30% to 50% of cases. If a child still has ODD at the age of eight, there is only a 25% chance that he will outgrow it.
A proper diagnosis has to be made of you suspect that at the age of five or six years, there may be a problem. Early warning signs are that the child is very often defiant and will not do anything or very little that is requested of him. He or she tends to be very argumentative. He is also fond of blaming others and will rarely take responsibility for his actions.
There are frequent outbursts and temper tantrums and the child is terribly touchy, gets annoyed easily and can be spiteful. As you can imagine, this means that the child cannot function at all, or very badly within his peer group and will often be shunned. As regards the learning environment there are other problems because the above symptoms interfere with academic achievement.
Parents treating children with oppositional defiance disorder have to decide whether to go for stimulant medication such as Ritalin. They may prefer homeopathic remedies because there are no side effects at all nor are there any health risks. But the mainstay of treatment must be some sort of behavior therapy or simply learning effective parenting skills. In this way, we are really protecting the child in the sense of equipping him for life and making sure that this difference or condition is not going to compromise his future.
When children reach their teens, they may be biologically considered as adults but the comparison with adults ends right there as they are not psychologically ready to take responsibility or to be independent enough to meet life's challenges.
That is why a behavior management program can help the child who has oppositional defiance disorder to become accountable for his actions. That is absolutely vital. I know one behavior therapist who has devised an award winning program which can help parents learn all the strategies they will need to do just that. Why not find out what this program covers and how much it costs. I can assure you that the costs will be a fraction of psychotherapy or family counselling.
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