Defiant Children: A Clinician's Manual for Assessment and Parent Training

I am a graduate student close to completing a Masters in Psychology with the goal of becoming a licensed professional counselor (LPC). Many of my classes have required that I obtain books on specific subjects (in addition to textbooks), read them, learn from them, and then give a presentation on the information given in the book. For one of those requirements, I chose this book. I could not have been happier with my selection. This is an excellent book for any therapist to use when working with families with defiant children. The author's writing style is straightforward and easy to read while still including necessary details. The book offers a comprehensive, yet flexible, step-by-step therapeutic plan for those who want/need it while also explaining the reasoning behind the concepts and techniques. The reason I selected this subject matter is because I am also the parent of a (now adult) child who was defiant during her childhood and adolescent years. She was the original "target patient" that brought my family to therapy. I was taught many of the techniques offered in this book by therapists and found them to be practical and successful which I believe is just as important as being empirical based. No treatment, regardless of how effective in a study, will be helpful to the family if they cannot implement it in their own real world life. The concepts and techniques offered in this book are easily understood and applied by parents while working surprisingly fast to turn things around. This book is written for the therapeutic clinician to read and use. There is partner book written for the parents. I have not read that book, but given the author's writing style, I expect it would be helpful to parents, as well. The author also has a set of clinician/parent books for defiant teens which is very similar. If choosing only one book, I'd suggest this one as it includes information for working with younger children as well as teens, making it more comprehensive for a wider age range. While I did not personally read the Defiant Teens book cover to cover, I skimmed it because I needed to coordinate my presentation on this book with the presentation of another student who selected the Defiant Teens book. What I found was the information for working with teens was basically the same in both books. So, in general terms, this book includes information for children and teens while the Defiant Teens book only included the information for teens. I definitely recommend this book to clinicians working with families and defiant children. I even recommend it for working with parents in general as many of the concepts and techniques promote good parenting skills which may help prevent future defiant behaviors.

Our child has been recently diagnosed with ODD. This book is great for describing what ODD is as well as how to rephrase how to talk to someone with ODD. It also is great suggestions/advice on what to do during outbursts and what to do after outbursts occur. Consistency is key at having a successful relationship. This book has been a tremendous help!!

This is amazing book for clinicians working with parents of children with behavioral problems.

This is an amazing book, complete with details sections for the provider to learn how to instruct on parenting skills and hand outs for parents. I have used this book and find it very easy to follow, and it seems to be helpful for the parents I've worked with as well. A fantastic resource for those working with children who are struggling with defiant, difficult behaviors and their families.

I'm a parent of a difficult child, not a mental health professional, but I still found this a very useful book. I find that a lot of advice books are one-trick ponies with whatever is the "trick" stretched out painfully over an unnecessary number of pages. I hadn't ever before used something written more for professionals, and I found it wonderfully to the point. Got nuts and bolts information from it, which is what I wanted.

This Author was referred to me by a Penn State Hershey Professor who is in charge of the ADD/ADHD/ODD study my child and I participated in. They referred this Author's books to me and suggested that we utilize his work when looking for ways to deal with our child's ADD/ADHD/ODD.

This was a required book for one of my classes. Now that I’ve graduated, I recommend it to others VERY often. Honestly, this book is worth every penny, and then some. When I had a question, I emailed the author and he wrote right back and helped me. I couldn’t believe how kind and generous he was.

Great for counselors, therapists and parents with defiant children. Must read

This book had been an excellent resource