To not believe there is any such condition as....

[BunnyLebowski]

...Oppositional Defiance Disorder??

This is the "disorder" that the mother of this 12 year old brat is claiming he has. He has stolen cars, set houses on fires, hospitalised another child by beating him to a pulp and thrown rocks at passers-by.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1195221/Dont-son-Asbo-hes-got-ODD-thats-oppositional-defiant-disord er.html

Now I know it's The Daily Wail and so on it's own isn't a reliable source but the mum was just on GMTV defending her son's behaviour and blaming it on his "condition".

So rather than accept that she's dragged up a violent, disrespectful criminal she can attribute all his behaviour to this lovely catch-all title for "cheeky f*ckeritis". How convenient.

dollius - I don't have to investigate every case.

There have been studies in both the US and the UK which have proved that ritalin is overprescribed.

In the US 10% of all children in second to fifth grade have been prescribed ritalin.

Only 3-5% of these kids actually have any form of ADHD.

The doctors make more money from prescribing the drug and it's easier than investigating what's really going on with the child.

The child in the OP is 12, though, Mary, I doubt he's 6ft 1.

Take your point about your ds, though, my sister was a very difficult teenager (fantastic once she'd got past those years, though), and my mother literally could not drag her to school.

Lol Katie! I was just thinking it sound just like my 3 yo DD....

I used to go to school with a boy who I'm sure would be diagnosed with this today. He had a tough life though, both his parents died, then he was adopted and sadly his adoptive mother died too. He was more than just naughty, he was pathologically unable to trust anyone who attempted to exert any control over him, and obviously very, very troubled. We were all very scared of him.

I'm sure the condition exists, but that doesn't mean it's not important to examine all the reasons a child is acting in a particular way.

If the boy in the article really does only sleep for 2 hours a night then I suspect there really could be a medical issue here.

You sound like a really great mum maryz.

It's just unfortunate that the Daily Wail et al is so determined to marginalise people like you who are really just trying to do their best.

It must be very frustrating.

Who exactly is it that is supposed to be so eager to label these children?!

It took me 5 years to get a dx for my son, and we're still waiting on some other possible dxes, and that kidn of wait is fairly typical!

If anything it is poor parenting that is the first thing to get blamed for anything that might be atypical with your child. Parents have to fight through all that to get help, support and a dx. Then they still have to deal with people who think they are developmental experts and know better than the whole multi disciplinary team that worked together to reach a dx. ds1 saw an ed psych, a paed, an physio, an OT, audiologist, SALT and early years teaching specialist before he even got a sniff at a dx.

The idea that diagnoses are handed out on a plate to anyone looking for excuses really is laughable!

I think the condition is real
but must admit to being about this case
imo it is most probally being dug out as an ecuse fot the fact that the boy is a thug.
I have no sympathy for kids who terrorise their neighbours, being on the receiving end myself(awaits the shit up the road getting out of all the hassle he has caused us by claiming a condition)

I rather suspect that your experience is far more typical than the scenario dreamt up in la-la land by the Daily Bile, chops.

Ds is 8.9

he has only just been formally diagnosed as having ADD.

depsite it first being mentioned back when he was 23 months old!

It is not an easy diagnosis and if a child has actually recieved a formal dx then you can bet your bra he has it.

im quite sure there are some parents who will blame their childs unruly behaviour on an undiagnosed condition and adhd being the more commonly banded about, it seems to get most of it.

ODD is indeed a real and very challenging disorder usually just bundled in with ASD.

However that does not mean that if your child has this you can just sit back and excuse his behaviour. whilst it is more difficult for sufferers to control their aggression it is not impossible and they do still know right from wrong.

so yes the mother is, certainly in part, to blame but that does not mean the disorder is any less real than CP or autism

I agree, Chops. I think that there are a lot of people out there who think that getting a diagnosis is a case of going to the GP, telling them you think your child has XYZ and being given a diagnosis and a prescription to take home with you.

Well, it may be Oppositional Defiance Disorder, or bad upbringing which resulted in a young criminal, but whatever the case, the result is the same: He is endangering the community.

Whatever the reasons behind the behaviour some action should be taken. It is not Ok to say oh, well, yes... he is like that if he is acting like a proper criminal, whatever the circumstances.

I think nelly has hit the nail on the head.

Even if that actions is a more aggresive course of treatment to reduce the problems caused by ODD.

Richard littlejohn was taking about this last week saying how it's all made up crap...no one is accountable anymore..everyone has a "condition"..lol..

The mother wants help, she is desperate for it. She wasn't trying to use the ODD as an excuse so he wouldn't be held accounable, she is concerned that the ASBO will be something else for him to rebel against, and she wants somethign that will work

'"I can't see what the ASBO will do to stop that. His disorder means whatever anyone in authority tells him, he does the opposite, so I have no doubt he will breach it like he did within two hours of getting it, which meant he was tagged.

"He needs medical intervention and I need help."'

I doubt she is perfect, but there is clearly somethign wrong if he was only sleeping 2 hours a night before medication.

quote fromt he Telgraph btw.

Ninkynork,your piece from wiki sounds like just about every adolescent child i have ever met ,mine included ,at some point in thier lives .
Know i am going to get flamed for this but in defence it is my mothers view , she taught for 30 years ,mixed ages ,differnt schools from inner city to small village and she says she never ever came across a child with ADHD or any of the other prevelant 'disorders' .yes some needed more stimulation than others ,who you couldnt leave for 5 minutes to their own devices ,but in her opinion they were normal children all the same.And remember most of her teaching life was spent back before NTAs were routinely used . Her view is that children are not a different species to adults and as a result come in all sorts of personality types , you just learn to educate ,nuture and manage them in the classroom .

My condition is can'tgetoffmyarseandironitis. Seriously though, my youngest shows some defiant behaviours and everyone wants to diagnose him with something, suggestions include ADHD and conduct disorder. But I know he just takes after me, a stubborn cow, and I know I haven't always followed through with punishments effectively. ADHD and other disorders may exist, but I do think they're overdiagnosed.

dear cory the bit about the beatings was a joke as was sayin my kids have o.d.d.