Got a student with ODD?

It was a warm September morning. Class was clean and organized. The blackboards were so shiny, they weren’t used for 2 months. Brand new pencil in hand as well as fresh paper. Nothing like the smell of new stationary at the beginning of the year. I looked and felt refreshed — Like I haven’t taught in two months!

There’s about 10 minutes left before the bell rings. I have to hurry and finish prepping last minute details for my lesson. Slowly but surely, I hear the sound of grade-9 students outside my door approaching. Their energy was almost tangible.

Intro PowerPoint — check ✔️

Rules chart — check ✔️

Class attendance list — check ✔️

My heart rate beating at a normal rate — hmm- not check !

Take a deep breath! This is not your first rodeo!

Butterflies in my stomach— check ✔️

All right ladies and gentlemen let’s do this. Let’s get the show on the road. I let these teenagers walk in and greet them one by one. Carefully analyzing each one of them. Is their uniform in check? Do they have their materials? Who seems to have an attitude problem? Who seems to be friendly? Will I be able to get through to these kids?

I observe each and everyone of them. Teachers tend to do that at the beginning of the year to try and get a sense of who they are dealing with. I try to avoid conversation with teachers that would cloud my judgment towards a student. A student may be difficult in one class, but not necessarily in mine.

So I get the occasional; “Hi miss! How are you?” Or “What’s up miss?”

“Hi! Welcome to my class!”

The bell rings and everyone is finally sitting down. The classroom set up was not the typical one with rows of tables and chairs, rather long rectangular laboratory tables.

“Good morning everyone, welcome to your science class. My name is Mrs. Dimitry.” I proceeded to take attendance.

Minutes later,

“This class is so freaking far.” says a girl storming in the class. Her expressive brown eyes showed discontent.

“You must be Laura Brown*! Yep, you’ll have to get used to leaving a bit earlier from wherever you are in the school. I call it the end of the world or Siberia.” Well I guess it was relevant: the science wing was the farthest from the cafeteria.

I smiled back at her. “For the first week of school, I’ll tolerate tardiness, as you are getting familiar with the classes, however next week, I’ll have to mark you late.”

“Ok fine”, sucking on her lip “where do I sit?”

I show her the seat and she nervously rushes to sit down, all the students were looking at her.

I give an overview about the content I’ll be teaching this year. “You will learn everything about the human body, for example; the nervous, digestive and cardiovascular systems. Also some chemistry, physics and some engineering.”

“Why is it so freaking hot in here?”, interrupted Laura while tying her long blond hair up in a pony tail.

I replied what a typical science teacher would say: “It’s because we are on the third floor and hot air rises!”

After 20 minutes of explaining my course outline, I gave the students a sheet where they have to write about themselves.

No phone policy

Although our school is a bring-your-own-device school, I still like to keep the phones and take them out for when we need them for educational purposes. Sometimes I give them small breaks in between activities, so they are allowed to look at them during the break.

I explained the no phone policy. I bought an over-the-door shoe rack and I have it suspended on a door adjacent to the entrance. As students walk in the class, they are to place their phones in a slot.

So as I walk around the class and look at what students are doing and I walk by near Laura. I noticed that her phone was on the table.

“Miss Brown, please put your phone in one of the slots.”

She instantly replies, “no way!”

“Excuse me? Laura this is not up for discussion. This my rule in here.”

She vehemently replies: “I don’t care, I am not putting my phone in that thing!” As she holds on to her phone like her life depended on it.

“Laura don’t worry no one is going to take your phone. If you are that worried, then leave it on my desk.”

“No miss, I don’t want to put it there either!”

I was secretly flabbergasted. I felt my impatience rising. I had 30 pairs of eyes staring at me to see what will be my next move. The class was uncomfortably silent.

How do you deal with that?

I replied to her: “Ok hide it in your pocket and you will have to wait after class. We need to talk.”

All I was thinking at the moment was: “Wow how am I going to get through this girl? She’s a tough cookie.” Most students comply to my rules, even with some mild discontent but they still do it. This didn’t apply to her!

As I continue to circulate in class to see if students are at work, I come near Laura and read what is on her paper. She immediately looks at me with strange eyes. She gave me a what-are-you-looking-at stare. As if I wanted to cheat for answers. She preceded to hide her paper with her arm.

My first impression of this girl was not great, to be honest. There’s a lot going on in her life. She’s angry, very angry. She’s defiant with what she says, with her eyes and with her body language. I knew it was going to be a challenge to get through to her and to trust me.

I made it a mission. I had to find a gentle way for her to trust me. She had to believe that I’m not here to judge her. Her abnormal defiance reminded me of the signs of oppositional defiant disorder.

At end of class we settled on leaving her phone on a shelf that is right in front of her so she has a clear view of it.

Next thing you know, I received an email from the ressource department that this girl does suffer from ODD! My instinct was right!

Let’s play football!

After many weeks of trying to build a relationship with her, I discovered that she plays football in an all-boys team.

Bingo! That’s my action plan!

I created a custon-made football inspired behavioral plan. Here’s how you can do that, but in order for it to work, the student with ODD has to take part of the planning.

First come up with, say, 5 behaviors that need to be corrected, example: raising your hand, use kind words, etc. Bare in mind that these need to be reasonable behaviors to correct. You also need to come up with reasonable rewards together.

You can then create a chart and check off the accomplished corrections for each period. When/if all behaviors to be corrected were respected, the student receives a “touchdown” at the finish line, ie: the end of the period. They receive their pre-set reward, example: permission to use the phone, homework break, etc.

Now, much like football, there are penalties given should there be a “foul” or infraction of the behavior. Now, you can’t bring out an orange flag and throw it in the middle of the class, but you can write an “x” in the chart.

Also like football, a player can be “benched”, this means the student was really out of line in their behavior and deserves to be kicked out of class or take a time out of an activity they are doing in class. This also means they lose any “check marks” they received and will have to start over.

All of these rules to “play football” in class can definitely be modified to fit your needs. Heck- it can be a different sport! The goal (pun unintended!) of this method is to make the student conscious of their behaviors with the hopes that they control themselves.

Throughout this process, you have to give them tasks to make them feel needed in class. Those can be simple things like taking attendance, or distributing papers. You want them to redirect their attention towards something constructive. I previously had a student with ODD that was in charge of the computer every class. It worked wonders.

Essentially, the finish line is not just some trivial reward, rather an environment conducive for learning. Everyone benefits: the student with ODD can focus on the task on hand and recognize their behavior. The classmates and the teacher won’t be interrupted by difficult behavior.

After months of working with Laura on this plan, I knew I had scored a touchdown with her when she stayed after class to divulge some very personal information about herself. She was confiding in me and showing a vulnerable side I hadn’t seen in her. Was her behavior 100% better? No, but she did improve a lot.

Alas, only when things were finally getting better and she was finally coming around, she had to change schools. She was relocated to a special education school where the class sizes were much smaller and had far less drama.

Bottom line, you have to handle students that suffer with ODD with care and compassion. You have to meet them halfway by giving them choices accompanied by rewards and praise. You also have to make them feel important by giving them responsibilities. When they have proper support, they will thrive and can become very successful, like Laura!

The work that you have to do on yourself as a teacher/parent, is to not lose your control, because it’s not about you. It’s definitely a test of patience!

The next time you have a student with ODD, remember to look past the hard shell that they portray. Believe that that there is a kinder, softer spirit in there. Believe that they are struggling internally, and your job is to support them along the journey.

Best of luck to all the Lauras out there and to all the teachers and parents that have to deal with them!

(*I used a different name to protect the confidentiality of the student)