Child Conduct Disorder FAQs

How we, as a counselor talk to a child with ODD/CD

Working with kids with these types of struggles starts at a place of “earning the right to be heard.” Most kids have already received many negative messages for many years from adults about their “bad behavior.” Naturally, they are on guard when they come to our office, assuming one more adult is going to criticize or judge them. Safety, trust and respect is core to building rapport with your child.

Every human being has the basic need of “I need to be seen, heard and know that what I say to you matters.” Once we build rapport, we can then begin to engage the child in a way that helps him or her learn to self regulate. Because we take an integrative functional medicine approach, talking with the child is only part of the healing process. We work closely with parents on the other healing aspects.

Disciplining your child with Oppositional Defiant Disorder

This is a greatly misunderstood and frustrating area for parents. Most parents have tried all kinds of approaches, none of which seem to work and some which only make the child escalate or shut down even more. Once we address the underlying issue of what is triggering a child’s opposition to following a parent’s guidance or rules, we find that a child can then self regulate and follow through with what is expected of him or her at home or school. The key is not to focus on trying to change a child’s acting behaviors to start off with. Rather, we go for the core issue of what is getting in the way of a child complying.

Can a child outgrow Oppositional Defiant Disorder?

Since oppositional defiant disorder is not a normal developmental stage, a child cannot simply “outgrow” it. A child going through the normal “terrible twos” would not be considered ODD. As explained above, these types of ODD behaviors are indicative of some underlying imbalance on a physiological level or some unresolved underlying emotional event.

« Back

Therapists

These are our therapists who are experienced in working with ODD/CD.

Up Next...