Rethinking ODD: A New Way to View the Oppositional Defiant Diagnosis
The video below is a one hour webinar to:
- explore the ODD diagnosis,
- unpack what we know - and what we don't know - about ODD,
- recognize the wisdom (benefits) of having a diagnosis,
- acknowledge the neuroses (challenges and limitations) of having this as a diagnosis,
- offer an alternative way to understand these extreme ODD behaviors if NOT as a mental health diagnosis,
- and share the two most powerful strategies for moving forward in a positive, new and more effective direction.
See below, for more information about me, if you'd like.
And after you have watched the entire webinar, I would LOVE to hear from you - to see how this landed for you! Please complete the anonymous form below, to share your feedback. :)
DISCLAIMERS:
- this is an offering - some of which may be new information, a new way of seeing what our children are experiencing, and then you will need to apply your own inner wisdom, your own expertise of YOUR child and YOUR situation, to navigate the path that is right for you
- this does NOT mean that "ODD isn't real". It is very real - I have lived it! But rather, this is looking at the child's extreme behaviors through a different lens, seeing what lies underneath those behaviors differently...and I think, more effectively.
Please share your feedback!
Your input would be very helpful; thank you so much for taking the time to share your meaningful, relevant feedback :)
Call To ActionAbout Melissa
Hi there!
Just a few tidbits about my background, and how I came to this point, of creating this webinar about Oppositional Defiant Disorder!
We adopted our son at birth; his strong, loving and young birth mother had used drugs and alcohol before realizing she was pregnant, so he did have in utero exposure. His challenging behavior started around age 3 and slowly intensified, reaching a "peak" at age 4 (see the story, The Undertow, below!)
At this age, due to a perfect storm of events, some physical (like a strep infection in his gut, and a neuropsychiatric reaction to Miralax, an over the counter medication for constipation), as well as emotional and social events all around the same time - his behavior was extremely challenging: aggressive, tantrums, screaming.


We didn't know why. We didn't know if this was our "new normal" and whether this behavior was permanent. It was traumatizing, exhausting and overwhelming. We connected with so many professionals and were then introduced to ODD, ADHD, Sensory Processing Disorder. Every practitioner we saw seemed to have a different view of what was happening!
From this experience, I started researching and learning about emotional and self-regulation, neuroscience, the biology of stress and more... That learning journey led me to creating this webinar - from my own experience, as well as my learning and training from the past five years.
From my own experience, I did not find the ODD diagnosis to be ultimately helpful - which is part of the reason I started researching it, finding many other seasoned professionals who also had concerns about this - as a diagnosis.
Once I discovered this body-based parenting approach, and started applying self-regulation (my own, as well as his!), our journey changed for the better. Much better.
I hope this helps you. I know how hard this journey is.
"The Undertow"
This is a six-minute story I offered during a livestream show in 2020 as a virtual celebration of storytelling and motherhood. This shares our story of the ODD journey "kick off" - when it really launched into an intense, overwhelming experience!