Educating Oppositional and Defiant Children

226 Pages·2003·0.78 MB·English

by  Philip S. Hall

Educating
O p p o s i t i o n a l
a n d D e f i a n t
C h i l d r e n
Philip S. Hall Nancy D. Hall
Educating
O p p o s i t i o n a l
a n d D e f i a n t
C h i l d r e n
Philip S. Hall • Nancy D. Hall
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data (for paperback book)
Hall, Philip S., 1943–
Educating oppositional and defiant children / Philip S. Hall, Nancy D.
Hall.
p. cm.
“ASCDproduct no.: 103053”—T.p. verso.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-87120-761-3 (alk. paper)
1. Problem children—Education—United States. 2. Classroom
management—United States. I. Hall, Nancy D., 1951– II. Title.
LC4802.H34 2003
371.93—dc21 2002156491
_____________________________________________________
This book is dedicated to the students who graduated from the
School Psychology Program at Minot State University from 1993
to 2003. Each of them contributed to the insights shared in this book
and the inspiration to write it. Being their mentors enriched our lives
immeasurably. We thank them.
We would also like to express our appreciation to the many class-
room teachers and special educators with whom we have worked in
the K–12 public schools in South Dakota, Minnesota, and North
Dakota. Several of them will read vignettes that describe children
they worked with, and they will smile. These individuals continue to
make a difference for children.

Educating
O p p o s i t i o n a l
a n d D e f i a n t
C h i l d r e n
Acknowledgments..............................................................................................vi
1 Understanding Oppositional Children........................................................1
2 Why Commonly Used Approaches Often Fail..........................................16
3 Engineering the Child’s Environment for Success....................................28
4 Managing the Daily Antecedents..............................................................49
5 Removing the Child from the Classroom..................................................65
6 Providing Services at School......................................................................83
7 Training for Parents..................................................................................111
8 Treating the Child....................................................................................141
9 Developing a Positive School Culture....................................................164
Epilogue............................................................................................................178
Glossary............................................................................................................181
References........................................................................................................189
Index................................................................................................................200
About the Authors..........................................................................................206
Acknowledgments
Several colleagues were kind enough to read early drafts of this
book and make comments and observations that improved the
manuscript. Paul Markel made insightful suggestions on Chapters 1
and 2. John Hoover read the first half of the book and suggested
changes that enhanced the book’s appeal to a wider audience. Ernie
Bantam read much of the original manuscript and made suggestions
and comments that kept us faithful to ourselves and to the time-hewn
beliefs about children that the three of us share. Charles Jonassaint
worked with uncommon dedication to search various aspects of the
literature and write the first draft about social skills streaming. We
thank them.
We are also indebted to the excellent librarians at Minot State
University. In particular, Patti Hunt, Dave Iverson, and Jane LaPlant
were always ready to patiently provide desperately needed assistance
at hysteric moments. We are indebted to them.
vi
1
Understanding
Oppositional
Children
A Classroom Incident
“Justin,” the teacher directed, “stop playing with your crayon and get
back to work.” Without even giving the teacher a glance, Justin rolled
his crayon down his desk and squealed in delight as it fell to the floor.
Noticing the teacher’s exasperation, the classroom aide, Mrs. John-
son, put her hand out and pleaded, “Justin, won’t you please give me
your crayon?” Justin threw the crayon at Mrs. Johnson, striking her in
the forehead.
“Justin!” the teacher exclaimed. “That is enough! Mrs. Johnson,”
the teacher said to her aide, “take Justin to the office.”
When Mrs. Johnson arrived at the office with Justin in tow, the sec-
retary reached for the phone. “Call his mother?” she rhetorically
queried. Before Mrs. Johnson could nod her head, Justin pulled out of
her grasp, knocked over a chair, and, with the aide in close pursuit, ran
back to his classroom. Seeing the commotion, the principal abruptly
ended her phone call and came to help.
Schools are seeing more and more children like Justin. They are vari-
ously called oppositional-defiant, antisocial, conduct disordered,
behaviorally disordered, or severely emotionally disturbed. Whatever
the label, these children have common characteristics. They do not
listen to directives from adults; they are openly defiant; and, if pushed,
1
2 Educating Oppositional and Defiant Children
they are apt to become aggressive. Twenty years ago most educators had
never heard of children who were categorized as being oppositional-
defiant, but today many teachers have such a child in their classroom.
The recent appearance of so many schoolchildren who are opposi-
tional and defiant makes people wonder whether the prevalence of
this condition is increasing. The question has two answers: “No, not
really” and “Yes, it really is.”
The “No, not really” response is valid because, to a certain extent,
the increase simply reflects a change in terminology. Characterizing a
child’s behavior as oppositional-defiant did not become commonplace
until after 1980, the year that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disordersfirst mentioned the diagnosis of Oppositional Defiant
Disorder (ODD) and described the behavioral characteristics associat-
ed with it.1 Previously, children who displayed these behaviors were
given other labels. Psychologists and psychiatrists once said these
children had Explosive Personality Disorder; teachers referred to the
children as disobedient and unruly; and the neighbors called them
spoiled brats. The increase in the number of children diagnosed as
having oppositional-defiant behaviors is due in part to the appearance
in 1980 of a new, more descriptive diagnostic label, and, in that sense,
the perceived increase is akin to putting old vinegar into new bottles.
The “Yes, it really is” response can claim widespread statistical evi-
dence. Youth violence in the United States has increased dramatically
in the past 20 years.2Today schools are dealing with levels of aggression
that were unheard of only two decades ago. The headline grabbers
include Jonesboro, Arkansas; Springfield, Oregon; and Littleton, Col-
orado; but the daily incidents of noncompliance, defiance, and aggres-
sion by children in schools that go unreported by the media are
burgeoning. As Chicken Little might say, “It’s everywhere, it’s every-
where!” Indeed, from 1976 to 1986 the number of emotionally dis-
turbed children in schools increased 32 percent,3and a large-scale study
done in the idyllic setting of rural Vermont found that 20 percent of
the preschool children in day care displayed frequent aggression.4
Staub believes that this pandemic of aggression arises out of social
conditions that typify the United States.5 Specifically, the number of
Understanding Oppositional Children 3
families headed by single mothers has increased 25 percent since
1990.6 In 1999, 33 percent of children were born to unwed mothers;
42 percent of all children under the age of 6 were living in or near
poverty; and 27 percent of all children were living with a single par-
ent, usually a mother.7 Research has convincingly shown that single
parents and parents living in poverty are more likely to use harsh,
inconsistent parenting practices, and their children are more likely to
be noncompliant, defiant, and aggressive.8,9
Staub contends that children who experience neglect, rejection,
harsh discipline, and a lack of nurturing develop pent-up anger.
Inwardly primed to explode, they do not have to look far to see aggres-
sion used as a means for getting even or getting what they want. Vio-
lence is a common feature of television programs. Even seemingly
benign cartoons such as “Road Runner” portray violent acts, such as
Wile E. Coyote getting revenge by rolling a boulder off a cliff onto the
indomitable beeping bird. It has been estimated that by age 10 the
average child has witnessed 12,000 acts of violence on television. Of
more concern, research has shown that when children, particularly
boys, see violence modeled on television, they become more aggres-
sive.10,11A case in point is a study about the effects of television on the
children in a small rural town in Canada that the investigators dubbed
Notel. Two years after television was introduced in Notel, the amount
of physical violence among children increased 160 percent.12 Even
more sobering, researchers have found that the amount and the type
of violence that boys viewed on television at age 8 predicted the seri-
ousness of the crimes they committed by age 30,4and that viewing vio-
lence on television was a predictive variable among 26-year-old adults,
both male and female, who had a criminal record.13
Another societal trend that contributes to aggression and non-
compliance in young children is day care.14,15,16 Researchers found
that when 4- and 5-year-old children are in day care, their level of
salivary cortisol, a hormone secreted when a person is stressed, is
markedly higher than when they are in their own homes, and their
increase in cortisol parallels an increase in aggression.17 Researchers
have also found that aggression among children in day-care programs