Oppositional Defiant Disorder Mixing With Exercise

"What is Oppositional Defiance disorder?"

Good Question! There is a lot of misinformation with ODD and a lot of assumptions with what ODD is and how it affects children. To an extent every child defies authority, once in awhile even the perfect student in the class chooses to mouth off or to defy a teacher or educational assistant. This does not mean that the student is identified as ODD, there is so much more than a few negative behaviors! So what is ODD?

Please watch this video to find your answer! Key points from video
 * 1/5 students is ODD
 * More common in boys
 * Diagnosed by age 8
 * Pattern of defiance
 * ODD is secondary to a primary problem (Depression, school issues, parental issues.
 * Treated with behavioral strategies

So now that we know what ODD is we can assume that a coach would struggle to coach a student with ODD. As a coach I tend to think in the terms of what students I like to coach and what students I do not like to coach. Yes, I admitted it, I do not love coaching every kid, not every kid is a success story. I have coached for 5 years and I have really enjoyed coaching about 95% of the kids I coach the 5% I do not always enjoy coaching are the kids who do not want to be there. That being said I have coached young men who have been diagnosed as ODD and I have to say I enjoy coaching these students. I love the challenges that these students can present, I love helping these students work through their behaviors. So from a coaches perspectives I pinpoint these 3 major benefits of students with ODD joining team sports: Who knew ODD was so interesting! Thanks for reading and I hope you are seeing the trends of how to deal with behaviors! If you have questions leave a comment and let me know your thoughts!!
 * Collaboration: Not every kid will play in the NFL, NBA or MLB, most kids will not ever play college sports. However collaboration is such an awesome skill to gain, sports would help instill that in students, it would be great practice for students who may struggle getting along with other (ODD students tend to struggle getting along with others).
 * Structure: Kids need structure, there is a plethora of data that suggests that students need structure to have quality learning environments. Students diagnosed with ODD tend to have some behavioral issues that can affect these students learning environment and the added structure which any respectable sports program has, would add to give the student some much needed structure.
 * Different outlooks on adults: As an educator (para educator but who is keeping track) and as a coach I treat kids differently in the settings we are in. In class when I am assisting I am very firm and let the students know exactly what is expected of them. In sports I have high expectations but they are approached differently and I am more "loose". If these ODD students see me in a different light I may be an opposition that they learn to respect. Though I do not know if my claim is substantiated, I do believe I have a decent point!