- "Psychologists and child specialists question the
use of such labels and say that the problem lies with the shortcomings
of the adults who care for them, not the children."
-
- Children who behave badly are no longer described as
naughty but suffering from Oppositional Defiant Disorder - or ODD syndrome.
-
- The condition, which was established by scientists in
America, is said mainly to affect children under 10 and result in a number
of disruptive symptoms including defiance, provocative conduct and disobedience.
-
- Literature on the subject says that sufferers "argue
persistently with adults", "actively refuse to comply with adults'
requests or rules" and "often deliberately annoy people".
Other ODD children are said to "consistently blame others for their
own misbehaviour".
-
- Figures for the disorder are not collected because it
often arises with other conditions, such as Attention Deficit Hyper-activity
Disorder. A study for the Office for National Statistics, however, found
that about three per cent of five- to 10-year-olds and almost four per
cent of 11- to 15-year-olds have "conduct disorders". The condition
is higher among boys.
-
- Psychologists and child specialists, however, question
the use of such labels and say that the problem lies with the shortcomings
of the adults who care for them, not the children. Attributing bad behaviour
to a medical "disorder" allows parents to abdicate responsibility,
they claim.
-
- Dr Gareth Vincenti, a consultant psychiatrist and the
medical director of the Harrogate Clinic, a mental health hospital, said
that the over-use of medical terms gave many children an excuse to run
riot. "You're medicalising behaviour by saying, 'Oh, you've got a
condition', then straightaway it is not the child's fault or the parents'
fault," he said.
-
- "Failing schools very often have failing discipline
policies. Rather than blame the lack of discipline, teachers and governors
will blame these medical conditions."
-
- Another child psychologist at a London teaching hospital,
said: "ODD is being used to describe some children who not so long
ago would have been called very naughty."
-
- Jerry Bartlett, the assistant general secretary of the
National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, said that
such labels did little to help teachers control unruly pupils. "Labels
such as ODD can be an attempt to excuse anti-social behaviour by giving
it a pseudo-medical status," he said. "What cannot be escaped
is that teachers are increasingly experiencing stress-related illness and
leaving the profession because of incessant challenging behaviour."
-
- ODD was first identified by the American Psychiatric
Association in the 1980s but its appearance as a diagnosis has increased
substantially recently. In the US it is estimated that about six per cent
of children have the disorder.
-
- The condition has been blamed in a number of publicised
cases of badly behaved children. Ben Griffiths, from Wrexham, who was banned
from going near his local leisure centre when he was 11, was diagnosed
with both ODD and ADHD.
-
- Another ODD sufferer Christopher Clarke, from Coventry,
was excluded from three primary schools by the age of 10 because he became
aggressive when disciplined and destroyed toys and vandalised property
when he did not get his own way.
-
- ODD is one of about 300 classified mental disorders -
most identified in the US - that doctors and psychologists use to explain
bad behaviour. Some of these "conduct disorders" are considered
to be treatable with drugs such as Ritalin.
-
- Michele Elliott, the director of the child welfare charity
Kidscape, said: "Other parents are getting fed up with sending their
well-behaved children to school only for them to have their lessons disrupted
by children who are not properly disciplined.
-
- "I do not believe that we should be excusing bad
behaviour with medical terms. What we need is a situation where children
face consequences for their actions and good parenting skills."
-
- The Office for National Statistics study, published earlier
this year, found that children from the poorest backgrounds were three
times more likely to have conduct disorders than those whose parents were
in professional occupations, and that children of lone parents were twice
as likely to suffer from poor mental health as those living with couples.
-
- The Government is to spend more than £300 million
on children and adolescents with mental health problems.
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- © Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2004. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/04/
11/nodd11.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/04/11/ixhome.html
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