Educating Oppositional and Defiant Children

by Philip S. Hall, Nancy D. Hall

Oppositional and defiant children present a major challenge for teachers and other educators. Students with serious behavior disorders can become aggressive, disruptive, and even violent in class. But instead of becoming frustrated with this antisocial behavior, educators need to approach each child individually with patience and understanding. Using stories based on actual classroom cases, Philip S. Hall and Nancy D. Hall illustrate the key concepts and techniques needed to successfully teach oppositional students. They believe that the teacher's own behavior can positively influence the student's reactions, and they offer practical advice on what approaches work and don't work. Readers will learn how to
* Identify the risk factors that can trigger antisocial behavior;

* Engineer the classroom environment, routines, and tasks to increase success;

* Interact in ways that promote positive behavior;

* Temporarily remove a disruptive child from the classroom while preserving the child's dignity;

* Work with the child's parents to find the appropriate special education services;

* Guide parents toward effective training programs; and

* Develop a school culture with the values and beliefs to nurture oppositional students.
Students with oppositional and defiant behavior must feel they are emotionally and physically safe in the classroom. The authors show how educators can help students move from despair to hope, from anger to comfort, and from failure to success.

Genres: Education, Nonfiction

205 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2003

Reviews

[Shanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book provides some strategies teachers can try to decrease the oppositional-defiant behaviors in children. Some of the strategies are interesting and seem doable. Some of the strategies seem like they might be a stretch- a teacher may ask herself, "How much work am I willing to put in to reduce defiant behavior?" The philosophy of this book fits well with relationship-based programs such as Love & Logic or Restorative Practices, and is not as compatible with applied behavior analysis programs, such as PBIS.

I didn't find this book particularly engaging- I am highly motivated to learn more about this topic, but I kept losing interest in this book. The authors seemed to have too broad an audience- alternately speaking to teachers, administrators, parents, even school policy-makers. I would have appreciated more an entire book for teachers. The authors' perspective on the realities of Special Education and the parent-school relationship seem outdated and unrealistic.

My current two-star rating is based on my enjoyment in reading the book. After I have tried the strategies, if they help with my students, I will come back to update my review and give more stars.

[Kate Thomas · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you can get through the first few chapters which leave you feeling hopeless there are strategies for teachers to apply in their classrooms.

As others have noted, it does go into details for parents and counselors as well so I would recommend only reading specific chapters based on your role with children.

[Portia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an incredibly insightful book on how to raise, teach, & communicate with kids that suffer from Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD). As a parent, I felt deeply seem & understood. This isn’t a “naughty kids, bad parent” disability; it’s a brain chemical imbalance. If you work with or raise a challenging child or student, this book is a must!

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this to get insight on how to deal with a defiant preschooler. There were some helpful tips to try. Gave some insight as to why children are defiant. The tips seem pretty basic but implementing them with no emotion seems hard. Will definitely be using some of the techniques.

[Barrette Plett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very readable and practical book with excellent tips for working with challenging kids. Lines up well with Ross Greene, Alfie Kohn, and others who are advocating finding real solutions for challenging behaviours.

[Winslow Morrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were some good parts that I really enjoyed about the book. I think that more examples in the moment would have helped me to categorize when I should and shouldn’t respond to the needs of oppositional defiant children. Overall, a solid guide in understanding ODD.

[Diane Mattmueller- Tilford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be very helpful. It gave practical strategies for working with oppositional students.

[Rob Baker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has excellent ideas about how to best deal with students who resist learning and/or who are disruptive in the classroom. Though the examples given focus on grade- and middle-school students, most of the ideas can be applied to high school students as well.

Definitely worth reading. Every educator will find helpful advice and reminders about how to work better and smarter with challenging students.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Perhaps my rating is too low, because there are some good ideas in here, including discussion of promoting a school culture that respects all students. It was nice to see a systemic solution included instead of just individual ones. However, actually educating ODD kids wasn't addressed. Classroom behavior management was, and I understand why that is a necessary precursor to engaging any child. But taking the additional step of discussing how to actually engage these kids, rather than just keep them from distracting the other students, would have been helpful. There is also a bit of parent-blaming throughout which was annoying.

[Kristen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this as part of my continuing education program. It was an interesting read. I've had some contact with students that I would consider oppositional and/or defiant, and since they can be so frustrating to deal with, I thought this could be a good choice. I learned some good information and thought about things related to this type of student that I hadn't thought of before. My only reservation about this book is that it doesn't really address the high school environment, so a lot of the suggestions seemed a bit far fetched for my classroom. (For example, it's hard to keep someone in from recess if there isn't a recess....)

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Teacher book. Read this for one of the classes I took this summer. About how to teach students who are oppositional and defiant. Not super impressed. The main theme seemed to be that you can't do anything about students who have ODD and that it is up to the teacher and parents to do everything they can to placate the child. I disagree. I think on of the main reasons that so many more kids today are oppositional and defiant is because they get to run the show at home and at school. There were a few ideas I gleaned from this book, but mostly, I found it unhelpful.

[Christy · Rating 2 out of 5]

"Educating Oppositional and Defiant Children" gave a lot of information and insight into why students become oppositional and defiant and I could see behaviors described in certain students. However, the book did not offer many strategies on how to manage these oppositional and defiant behaviors. I would like to see the offer add strategies or write another book geared more to educators that gives classroom management strategies to manage these students in the classroom.

[Erika Barrington · Rating 2 out of 5]

Let's stop diagnosing people, shall we? There's some useful information in this book... but ultimately holding strong to these diagnoses is doing just that to therapists/counselors/teachers/ etc. Holding us back from seeing children (any person) in their full context and system. It angers me too much to finish the book.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a great supplemental read for any teacher. It is a reminder of why we work so hard. It also provides examples of how to work with those more challenging students and why different methods may work with them over another.

[Sarah Marie · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book had some good strategies for working with oppositional children, it also included incorrect information regarding applied behavior analysis throughout the text, making me question the sources the authors used for their information. Simultaneously interesting and disappointing.

[Abbi C · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an educator who works with oppositional and defiant students in an elementary classroom, this book is an invaluable resource for supporting students and their families. A book I will refer to for many years to come!

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was good to see things from an educators viewpoint. It gave some tips for me as a parent in how to deal with things.

[Abbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

As other reviewers discussed, the educating is not an academic focus but rather looking at structuring the classroom and interactions to create successful learners.

[Linda Haring · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for a class. Disagreed with some of it, but it did have some useful information.