The behavioral disorder is a serious issue in children. Some children have very difficult and challenging behaviors that are not normal for their age. Few of the very common behavioral disorders are conduct disorder (CD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
Differentiating and diagnosing these disorders can be a little time consuming as all the three disorders have some common symptoms. However, the causes of these disorders can be family difficulties, emotional problems, abuse, mood disorder, etc and also if you want to reduce anxiety issues in children or adults, weighted blankets are quite useful and effective.
1. Conduct Disorder
Children who suffer from conduct disorder have very delinquent behavior and do not accept rules. 5% of all 10-year-old kids are believed to suffer from this disorder.
Typical behavior of a child with conduct disorder:
- Repetitive truancy
- Frequent lying
- Refusal to obey
- The tendency of smoking, drinking, and drugs
- Physical fights
- Using weapons
- Aggressiveness
- Showing sadistic behavior
- Lack of empathy
- Suicidal tendency
- Criminal behavior
2. Oppositional Defiant Disorder
This is another behavioral disorder and the children of age 12 years are mostly affected by this. Around 1 in 10 children suffer from this disorder.
Typical behavior of a child with the oppositional defiant disorder:
- Frequent tantrums
- Frustration threshold is very low
- Frequent arguments
- Easily irritated and angered
- Refuses to obey rules
- Low self-esteem
- Blames others for any misdeed
- Deliberately annoys others
3. Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder
Another behavioral disorder found in children. 2-5% of children are believed to be suffering from this disorder.
Typical behavior of a child with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder:
- Impulsive
- Prone to accidents
- Easily angered
- Overly active
- Interactive
- Restlessness
- Difficulty in concentration
- Leaving tasks incomplete
- Forgetfulness
Diagnosing Behavioral Disorders
These behavioral disorders include various factors that work in combinations. Children might be suffering from more than one disorder at a time and may also be affected by depression, difficult family life, anxiety etc. Hence, diagnosing these behavioral disorders can be difficult and might include various steps:
- Diagnosis by a psychiatrist or physiologist
- Standard questionnaires
- Behavior checklist
- An in-depth interview with the child
- Interview with parents, teachers and other relatives or friends
Treatment of Behavioral Disorders
If children with the behavioral disorder are not treated and taken care of, they might end up growing to be dysfunctional adults. Treatment and medications for such behavioral disorders have been carefully designed in order to improve behavioral measures of children both at home as well as at school.
Treatment can vary depending on the kind of behavioral disorder the child suffering from or the severity of the disorder. However, these few steps are regularly practiced and help a lot in getting the child better at their behavior.
- Social training
- Professional support for problems
- Family therapy
- Cognitive behavioral therapy
- Education and guidance for parents
- Medication
- Anger management
- Encouragement after failures
- Interaction
Practicing all of the above steps regularly can help the child overcome the behavioral disorder and its symptoms. Other than these, there are many special treatments for the particular disorder once diagnosed.
