“He is constantly arguing and negotiating with me. Everything is a struggle!” – mother of a 14 year old boy.

“It would take so much less effort and time for her to do her homework the first time instead of procrastinating and having a meltdown. The whole process could be over in 20 minutes. Instead, it took over 2 hours to finish her homework!” –mother of an 11 year old girl.

We frequently hear parents make these same complaints and statements about their children while at the same time they are trying to reason, defend and rationalize with them; all to no avail. Some kids can wreak havoc in the house to the point where parents feel the household is revolving around the child and the parents are the ones walking on eggshells.

What you need to know:

While having ADHD can be a problem for kids, parents, and educators, many of the symptoms are controlled by either medication or modifications to home and school. However, over 2/3rd of children with ADHD also develop Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD). This is where the problems really start. There is no medication for ODD. Of course, there are also many children and adolescents who are ODD without also being ADHD.

Besides the common complaints from parents/teachers that these kids shut down, argue, continually try to negotiate, and are prone to emotional explosions, the biggest factor with them is their lack of motivation. Parents are frequently perplexed on how to instill motivation and ‘good work ethics’ with their child/adolescent.

How We Are Different

At Ray Levy, Ph.D. & Associates we pride ourselves on specializing on these kids and helping parents regain control of their household. We understand how these kids think and process, and the best way to go about helping them.

Since these youngsters are often unmotivated at home, they are also unmotivated in therapy and show little to no interest in changing. Hence, we teach the parents/teachers (or the most motivated individuals) to help these kids become the problem-solvers instead of the problem-creators.

Next Step

Ready to change the home dynamics? Ready for your child to become more compliant and less explosive?

Call our office to find out more about how we can help you and your child or adolescent become the problem-solver. Our office manager will be happy to answer your questions and schedule an appointment for you and your child/adolescent.