Tips on Identifying a Conduct Disorder in Children

Identifying a Conduct Disorders is very difficult. Improper and inaccurate diagnosis has terrible long lasting effects, often as negative as the conduct disorder itself. Here are some tips on how our family deals with this problem. Our family is large and has children of all ages of development growing up at this time. All the parents help each other with information and advice based on what each other are going through. Here are some of our conclusions, things we look for, and decisions we have made.

The first thing we have all learned is that although we appreciate input from teachers and school administrators, we never take at face value any diagnosis or prognosis given by the school at face value. This is not meant or stated with negative intent. We have just had too many incidents where what we were told was going on was wrong. Years ago this resulted in the ruining of one promising life in our family. We all vowed never to let that happen again.

This is not to say we do not listen or that we disrespect what the school may tell us. We do however reserve the right for second opinions just as we would for ourselves should a doctor give us a diagnosis we found difficult to believe. So those are our first two guidelines or rules if you will.

Listen to all inputs from school and other sources as pertains to our specific children but take nothing at face value.

Allow no changes in the schooling or discipline of our children without a minimal of outside independent opinion.

We have refused to allow a number of our tween and teenage children to be classified as having conduct disorders in school when at home no evidence of such problems existed. We have found, on more than three occasions, in two different states and school districts teachers that were just wanting to get a bored but bright child out of their classroom rather than encourage and nurture that indeed special child.