Abandoned Stuff by Saskboy

Don’t ask me how I got them, but here are the headlines in the newsblogs [2106 word for "newspapers"] for May 27, 2106:

American Idol elects the first Hip Hop President of the United States of America, with record low voter turnout

Apple releases their popular OS L, a full 2 years after it was leaked on the Interweb

Clone of famous 20th Century celebrity Sylvester Stalone releases Rocky XXX

And don’t even ask about the gossip pages, they are over half of the publication and you wouldn’t understand half of the crazy stuff going on in them. Who’d have thought that reality TV would take such a tragic turn…

==

Yesterday morning on CJME.com, caller Tara explained how ODD affects some children “genetically”, making them resistant to all attempts at training them to behave. Oppositional Defiant Disorder, is a catch-all “disorder” used either when a proper diagnosis of a behavioural problem can’t be determined, and/or when a doctor has to tell a parent something other than, “You’re not using the right techniques to make your child behave properly.”

Gormley read the 8 criteria, of which four must be present, with the handy sliding scale of “moreso than peers” available as an “out”.

The criteria for ODD are:

A pattern of negativistic, hostile, and defiant behavior lasting at least six months during which four or more of the following are present:

1. Often loses temper

2. often argues with adults

3. often actively defies or refuses to comply with adults’ requests or rules

4. often deliberately annoys people

5. often blames others for his or her mistakes or misbehavior

6. is often touchy or easily annoyed by others

7. is often angry and resentful

8. is often spiteful and vindictive

Despite my overwhelming urge to declare ODD complete nonsense, and that be the end of it, clearly some children who are being labeled with it are suffering from some problem and acting out. Whether or not they have something called ODD, or a real medical/environmental problem, they need treatment. Treatment doesn’t have to mean with drugs though. Drugs might play a role if every other behaviour modification plan has been exhausted by experts, but it should never be the sole treatment. You can’t drug a child for years on end, it’s obviously the wrong answer to the problem.

One suggestion from that ODD site is to, “Ask to sit down with the [child's] principals and teachers regularly.” To that I say, “Good idea,” and, “Duh.” Every parent, whether they are having problems with their child or not should be meeting with their child’s educators. In theory a parent would meet with a daycare provider, so why wouldn’t you meet with your child’s teachers? Apallingly few parents apparently meet with their child’s teacher before the kid starts school, at least that’s my experience in one southern state.

Since I only fit criteria 2. and 3., I’m not in danger of being labeled with ODD, although some people do think I’m a touch odd anyway. You can’t make foil hats for pets without getting that label thrown your way now and again. Ahh, social sciences, where you get to quantify something using the word “often”. If you use the word ‘often’ often enough, pretty soon you’ll forget how often you use it. Remember, before the word ‘often’ was used so frequently, kids who acted out had a “bad attitude” that was treated with various forms of punishment? I think punishment has fallen out of style, in favour of “free range” children.