Oppositional Defiant Disorder

[PurpleSky9]

Hi,

If there is anyone on here with a child who has this or has a child with really aggressive behaviour issues, I’d be really grateful for some advice. I’m not his Mum, but I’m a carer for a 6 year old boy whose been diagnosed with ODD and his behaviour has been getting steadily worse over the last couple of months. He was excluded from school early last year, and has been home schooled ever since, but from what I gather, no one has really been able to establish an effective strategy for dealing with his behaviour. If anyone has any advice or can point me in a direction it would be really appreciated. He is a lovely boy on a good day, but the violent outburst are getting out of hand and we have another younger child in the house.

Thanks.

I have dealt with a child with that and several other issues.
What I found was whenever possible not issuing direct commands, or even reacting so they know what you want.
So rather than "step back from that 10 foot drop" or a gasp of horror as they step towards it you look away from them and say "oh is that a holly bush here, no I don't think it is..." and hopefully distract them. Or for real emergencies "don't tread in the dog poo here" can be effective but only if you're willing to clear up the resultant mess.

Distraction technique generally worked the best. So if you can see them getting wound up she used to have a game where you'd ask her to tell you something she could smell, something she could touch, something that was pink etc.

I'm not an expert at all, this is what worked for one little one.

She is a little darling, but her mum is amazing coping with her full time as she never sleeps either.