Oppositional Defiant Disorder - Article Example

Attention problems, aggression, and hyperactivity were used to rate the children. The last method used was a videotaped assessment of the participants. The participants were videotaped during their interactions with their parents and during cognitive testing. The last method involved clinicians who diagnosed ADHD and ODD according to the ratings and interviews described above (Harvey et al, 2009). The study was able to employ various behavior assessment methods to predict children who suffered from ADHD and ODD during pre-school years.

The research was 76% accurate for ADHD and 67% for ODD. Although the majority of those children who were predicted to have ADHD or ODD were diagnosed with the problems 3 years later, a good number did not. 27% for ADHD and 42% for ODD were not diagnosed with the disorders (Harvey et al, 2009).There needs to be a balanced approach to identifying and treating ADHD and ODD disorders. The method should not label these children as abnormal as this might have a negative effect on them. Treatment should be majorly based on psychological interventions (Harvey et al, 2009).

Further research should look at other factors such as family variables to predict the ODD.The research raises several questions. How should parents be empowered to use behavior assessment tools as a way of determining whether their children suffer from ADHD or ODD? Should ADHD and ODD be diagnosed earlier if the behavior assessment results diagnose a child with one of these disorders?