Quote:
Originally Posted by atisketatasket
I did some brief research into ADHD, because what keeps striking me and others, including some of you, is that it seems to be more than ADHD.
Turns out there are a couple behavior disorders in the DSM that more than half of kids diagnosed with ADHD also exhibit (conduct disorder, oppositional-defiant disorder). I’ve no idea if he’s diagnosed with either, but they both fit him—e.g., persistent refusal to follow rules, persistent resistance to authority figures.
Doesn’t bode well for changing his behaviors.
If he shows up in class after I send him my report today, I think I will talk to campus security and see if they’d be willing to do a “walk by.”
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That seems a bit high to me. I suspect there may be some misdiagnosis due to misattributions about behavior of kids with ADHD. For example, chalking up a failure to follow rules to defiance and resistance to authority instead of the rather prominent ADHD symptom of difficulty regulating impulses. I had a good friend with really quite severe ADHD as a kid. She definitely didn't have a pathological disrespect for authority and actually I would say she yearned for approval. But she also had a lot of trouble following rules. For example, she was the type of kid the teacher constantly would have to tell to stop talking in class. Also, from the point of view of a kid with ADHD, constantly trying to keep a lid on the urge to let loose (just to do schoolwork, no less) is no fun. What kid wouldn't feel a bit resentful of being micromanaged and having to tamp down their hyperactivity? I hardly think that's pathological.
I guess I just think ADHD symptoms can sometimes be so incredibly frustrating to deal with for parents and other caretakers that there is a danger of misdiagnosis of additional disorders such as ODD. Another way to look at it is that there are other disorders, such as BPD, that can manifest in ways that are oppositional or defiant, but that doesn't mean the person with BPD has a separate disorder - the behaviors are symptoms of the BPD.
All that said, I don't think this student's issues accepting redirection, advice, and the specific ways he has been disrespectful sound like ADHD issues. If that were the case, he would probably be agreeing to whatever the suggestions were then failing to follow through.