Please help - possible ODD and getting desperate.

[amynnixmum]

Has anyone got any experience of ODD (oppositional defiant disorder)?. It has been suggested by the ep that this may be ds's problem but as yet the paediatrician is reluctant to diagnose any disorder. I have read up on the internet and ds certainly seems to fit many of the criteria. Please help as I am desperate. The headteacher is building a case for permanent exclusion, there is no special school provision in the borough for ds age group and i just don't know what to do. Will be ringing IPSEA on monday but just hoped that someone out there might have some experience of this.

I've taught 2 boys with ODD. I'm secondary btw. One came up with the dx and had a TA. The other was dx'd whilst with us and we received funding for a TA. I should think he needs a dx so that the school can get funding for him. How old is he?

4 1/2. Has just been excluded for the 3rd time

You need a dx. I'd ask to see the paed again and lay it on the line- this isn't fair on your ds- he needs a dx because if he has ODD he needs to start getting help in school.

I'm sure that if you keep bumping this then someone will be along who knows a lot more than me.

Am going to ring paediatrician again on monday. He was really nice and said he would reassess ds any time. Does a diagnosis of ODD count as a disability in the same way as autism? I only ask as i am having real problems getting ds the help and support he needs. Have discussed this in various other threads but the ODD is a new consideration

Sorry if I am wrong but isn't ODD under the same umberella as ADHD. It's just that I have the Christopher Green ADHD book has a section on it!
I am not sure if it would count as a disability in the same way as my dd's language disorder does. Although it would be behavioural and therefore should help you get a statement. I know there are children in dd's school statemented for behaviour and emotional behaviour (one boy's mum has terminal cancer and he is showing his sadness though behaviour )

No experience (never heard of it before in fact) but have you come across this site , annm? I don't know if it will tell you anything you don't know already but definitely links to ADHD, anxiety disorders etc - if there isn't some support in place there really should be. Good luck

Here goes .....
from my understanding of ODD....which we were told J had...but then again the bloody Paed of ours seems to think J has everything going at the moment is...

ODD is a co-morbid condition of ADHD.
Early inetvention is needed with very strict boundaries set for the child. Behaviour managemnet is needed to help loose the "learned behaviour's" of the child.
The ADDapt programme was mentioned to us...which consists of lots of rewards and star charts....not much use to us as J doesn't understand the concepts of rewards for good behaviour!!!

As Bloosom mentioned...ODD is quite well detailed in the Chris Green "Understanding ADHD" book.

If I was you I would be hammering the door of the Community Pared door down and demanding an assessment ASAP.
Good Luck....

He has been assessed for ADHD and for Aspergers. We knew there was no way he had Aspergers but given the problems at school we were beginning to wonder if he did have ADHD even though he is no-where near as difficult at home. Paediatrician says that he doesn't beleive that ds has ADHD due to the huge difference in his behaviour between home and school. He is a lively and difficult child who often displays challenging behaviour but until the problems at school we never considered that there might be a problem. He is quite capable of attending to a task if it interests him and he has sat through 2 films at the cinema with no problems at all. But if he doesn't want to do something then it is practically impossible to keep his attention for more than 3 or 4 mins. We have done sticker charts, pepple jars and all the positive parenting stuff at home and it has certainly helped but at school it seems to make little if any difference.

amy - sorry if again I am wrong but I thought that the fact your ds concentrates of things of his own choice but if it's something he doesn't want to do was also a huge red flag for Adhd. My dd (aged 5) has some traits of Adhd and that was one of the big flags that she could sit and paint for hours (which she likes doing) but ask her to sit and do something she didn't want to do forget it!

You may be right Blossom but the paediatrician seemed to think that if he was capable of attending to something it couldn't be ADHD. He is well respected round here and has a reputation for being trigger happy with ritalin. Does your dd have a dx of ADHD then or is it just that she has some of the traits? Ds certainly has some of the traits but paediatrician said this wasn't enough for a diagnosis. He said he wouldn't even describe him as borderline which I know he has done for several other children.