Article Summary

Emotional Impairments

It can be extremely frustrating to work with students with oppositional and defiant

behaviors, especially when you don’t understand them. In the article Understanding and

Addressing Oppositional and Defiant Classroom Behaviors authors Spencer J. Salend and

Shawna Sylvestre provide suggestions for working with students with oppositional defiant

disorder. Salend and Sylvestre define students with oppositional defiant disorder as those that

“engage in behaviors designed to resist the requests of authority figures” to an extent in which

the behaviors interfere with their school performance (Salend and Sylvestre, 2005).

Some of the many suggestions the authors give to improve understanding of and address

oppositional and defiant behaviors are encouraging family collaboration and communication,

address learning and motivational difficulties, develop the student’s self-esteem, provide social

skills instruction, build relationships, give choices, and establish and teach rules.

Family members can be a great resource in understanding the specific behaviors of a

student and often times, families can provide useful information on how to additionally support

the student by sharing ways they manage the behaviors.

Many of the suggestions can be used with all students, not just those with defiant

behaviors. For example building relationships, offering choices, and establishing and teaching

rules can create a positive classroom environment for all students. Simple ways to build

relationships include greeting students by name, asking students about their interests, and

displaying kindness. Giving students choice can relate to addressing learning and motivational

difficulties in the way that supports the learning environment and keeps students interested and

engaged.
 One of the last things Salend and Sylvestre mention in their article is the importance of

learning more about oppositional and defiant behaviors. They explain that special education is a

constantly changing field with new research, programs, models, legislation and strategies always

coming out. An effective educator is one that strives to keep up with the changes and continues

to learn more and develop their skills for working with these students.

Source:

Salend, S.J., and Sylvestre, S. (2005). Understanding and addressing oppositional and defiant

classroom behaviors. Teaching exceptional children. 37(6). 32-39.