Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) Support Group
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) an ongoing pattern of disobedient, hostile, and defiant behavior toward authority figures that goes beyond the bounds of normal childhood behavior. When a child cannot seem to control his anger or frustration, even over what seems to be trivial or simple to others, the child will often react in violent or negative ways to his own...
Does anyone who has a child with odd experience their child just going limp, falling to the floor when he doesn’t want to do something or talk about it. He also will grunt, cry and or yell when you try to talk out the problem. He almost thinks it’s funny when we get mad.
ODD children WANT the engagement. They want there to be opposition. They live for the fight and absolutely enjoy your reactions. The best thing you can do is to make sure they are safe and disengage until they are calm. For my 12 yo son that usually sounds something like, "You are being disrespectful. When you are ready to have a calm conversation about this I will be ready to listen". Usually he will come to me about 5 minutes later to try and engage in a fight again. It starts off nice, but as soon as he hears something he doesn't like - - for example a punishment for slamming something or throwing something, the fight ensues again. So again, I disengage.
You almost have to think of them as bullies. They are poking at you to get the reaction, but like most bullies when they don't the attention or don't get ALL the attention (my son loves to be the center of attention) it's no longer worth it.