Defiant child, ADHD child: the PSYCHOTIP® parent programme

This programme supports an assessment, it does not replace one. You will find the diagnostic criteria clinicians use, but reading criteria does not allow anyone to make a diagnosis: only a child psychiatrist, a paediatrician or a trained psychologist can do that, after an interview, questionnaires filled in by several adults, and the exclusion of other explanations. If the difficulties are severe, if they have lasted more than six months, or if you are worried about your child's safety or mood, book an appointment. This text is a working tool, not a verdict.

Before you start

Your child argues with every instruction. You have to repeat it five times, raise your voice, threaten — and sometimes give in. Meals, homework, getting dressed, bedtime and outings turn into exhausting negotiations. You feel you have become a parent you don't like: the one who shouts, who counts to three, who threatens things they will never carry out.

This programme is built for exactly that situation. It concerns children of roughly 2 to 12 years old who show oppositional behaviour: refusal, defiance, outsized anger, difficulty accepting a "no". It applies whether or not that behaviour comes with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.