ODD Management

Today the Oppositional Defience Disorder was really put into full effect. Since it is the begining of the school year the classroom teacher has to go over the class rules and the playground rules. Since the boy I work with, (I will call him Mahesh, for story sake) needs to challenge and defy everything, he acted out every bad choice that was presented to the first grade. The teacher said on the playground we keep our hands to ourselves, then gave many examples of the wrong ways to interact. As soon, as her speech was over and the kids were told to line up for the playground, Mahesh went over and pushed another kid. Mahesh is very tiny, maybe 45 pounds? So when he pushed the larger boy, that boy just belted him. I figured that was punishment enough for him, so I acted like I didn't see it. I don't know if that was proper behavior management but no one is giving me much support on how to work with him. Later in the day, the teacher assigned a coloring project, she talked about how people are not green so don't use green to color your skin, use tan, brown or peach. As soon as Mahesh got his paper he began coloring the hair green. I used the advice from the pulling in the reins article, and took the green away and left the rest of the crayons to choose from, he then laughed and chose purple, so I then took away all of his crayons except brown and black. Then he chose black to color his hair. I like giving him options and it does work pretty well to give him very limited undesirable choices. Just when it comes to hitting, there are no choices I can give him; You can hit and get punished or you can not hit and have recess time, he would choose punishment because he enjoys being punished. I guess I need to figure out what he likes about punishment.

Hyperlexia Management

I started working with this first grade boy, who is diagnosed with pdd.nos but I am very positive that he has hyperlexia. All day he was obsessed with reading every poster, every paper, every book, anything with words on it. The teacher was reading a story to the children while they sat on the floor, he was busy reading the board. She handed out books for the children to read along, he read his out loud very quickly before everyone even got their books. The other children were amazed that he could even read, since most of them can only read a few words. This sounds very hyperlexic to me. When the teacher was giving instructions about how to hang up their school bags, he was busy reading the numbers off of his number chart that is taped to his desk. He misunderstood almost every oral direction that was given but he remembered everything that was written. From now on I am just going to keep a portable white board with me and write out all oral instructions for him. When he earned a break, his choices were : play with a ball/sensory toy, draw on the board or do stretches. He chose to draw on the board and instead of drawing, he wrote words, numbers and letters. While we were walking through the hall, he read every poster. I asked him who taught him to be such a great reader? He laughed and said NO ONE! I said it must have been your mom, he said NO WAY, then I said it must have been your kindergarten teacher, he laughed and said NO WAY. Then I said who did then? He said NO ONE! While laughing more. I think I believe him. I haven't found many techniques to use through my research on hyperlexia. Maybe the best way to manage hyperlexia is to feed into it with more written words until his reading and listening comprehension grow. There were a few things that made me angry with his teacher, she assigned groups then each child was assigned a color and she deliberately assigned him red because it was the shortest and easiest word to read (she also said red like your shirt), she did not listen to him read off every color listed on the paper before she walked over. Also, while reviewing her behavior system, she focused mainly on the punishments and very little on the rewards. He also has Oppositional Defiance Disorder and for some reason craves punishment, soon after her explanation and examples of incorrect behaviors, he hit me, yelled and became very non compliant. Now that is off my chest maybe I can sleep easy tonight.

Increasing Motivation

This is from more research that I have done. Tommorow I get to test it out. Wish me luck.

Reversing Demoralization and
Increasing Motivation in Your Child


Many times, in our effort to see children succeed, we will push them or require that they put in “more effort.” We comment on many aspects of their performance-trying to be constructive. Children and adolescents commonly see these comments as micromanaging, criticism, or as evidence that we care more about their grades and performance than we care about them. They frequently end up feeling demoralized and adopt a “what’s the use?” attitude.

We must remember that what we consider helpful comments may be perceived as criticism and negative. Our efforts to help them may result in feelings of hopelessness, a drop in morale, self-esteem, motivation and, ultimately, a strain in our relationship with them.

To reverse this drop in morale and strain in our relationship, we must:

Limit the number of comments

First, remember that it is better to note the positives. If you feel compelled to comment, then limit your “constructive comments” to one per event, whether it be homework, athletics, or friendship skills.
Example: “Keep your eye on the ball, just like you did on the last pitch.”
Instead of: “Keep your eye on the ball, elbow up, choke up on the bat, plant your foot, follow through, etc.”

Notice movement in the right direction

Second, it is most important to note behaviors that show your child that they are moving in the right direction (even though their performance may be far from adequate, much less perfection.) Without some encouragement even small changes will cease to exist. Big changes and substantial improvements only occur from a succession of small changes.
Example: “You’ve gotten both socks on without being reminded!”

Lower the bar and raise it as they progress.