Oppositional Defiant Disorder Diagnosis

[Anonymous]

NAMI has parent support groups for those with children.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like my DD. ADHD (combined), anxiety, and likely PDA. Also a few learning disiabilities (dysgraphia, dyscalculia, potential dyslexia). Her issues were much more severe in a montessori setting and they have lessened in public school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like my DD. ADHD (combined), anxiety, and likely PDA. Also a few learning disiabilities (dysgraphia, dyscalculia, potential dyslexia). Her issues were much more severe in a montessori setting and they have lessened in public school.

OP here. That’s so interesting because my son's issues worsened in public. He loved Montessori and we had no idea anything was wrong until we made the switch in K. The self direction and being treated like a little adult was perfect for him. It’s hard to get the balance of structure and freedom right though for these kids. He hated the small private school we switched him to in 6th even more than public so back he went.

[Anonymous]

I randomly ran across this thread and wanted to offer a tangential observation.

When I was an elementary school student, I had a classmate who was bright but had all these negative behaviors starting in the early grades.

Now here is the strange thing I always wondered about.

On a field trip in the early grades, he ran down a hill and hit his head on a large tree he ran directly into. He had to go to the hospital for that. This was not the cause or a resolution of his behavioral issues. But I mention it because it was head trauma.

His behaviors smoothed out to the point that he was one of the members of Homecoming Court in high school. He became an English professor.

Now here is the odd thing. He died young of a brain tumor (late 30s/40s). When I went to read reviews of his work as a professor, a lot of people mentioned that he was very ADHD-like.

So here's my point. I wonder if he always had something structural (even if small) that led to emotional problems or if his head injury somehow tied to this tumor. If I were a parent, I would keep my mind open to the possibility that something unexpected could be going on. It might just be a coincidence but since I never met a kid like him, I always wondered.

Not trying to be pseudo-scientific. Just to share an unusual set of circumstances that I observed.