Oppositional defiant disorder in the family and educational context

Nowadays, children with Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) are common in our educational settings; however, little is known about how to deal with them in school and at home. Thus, the aim of this paper is to describe a mother, a teacher, and a school psychologist’s experiences in treatment with an ODD child from a public school in an urban area of Latacunga, Ecuador. This phenomenological, qualitative study collects and analyzes data using semi-structured interviews and thematic analysis. Main findings show that school change, physical punishment, and discontinuation of therapies negatively affected the child with ODD, but the psychologist’s support, help and patience, giving responsibilities, and talk therapy were useful to control the child’s behavior. The mother believes that her child’s behavior has improved, but the teacher and the psychologist believe that he shows little improvement. The mother has not been very involved in the treatment due to her socio-economic condition. These findings suggest that the educational system must provide economical support to students and specialized training for both the school psychologist and the teachers so that they can create a good environment to involve parents in a comprehensive treatment process. Moreover, specialized mental health services must be more accessible in school settings