As all parents and educators know, each child is first and foremost an individual with his or her own particular pattern of strengths and needs for improvement. While this is true of all children, it is important to remember when designing interventions for children with behavioral disorders such as Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional-Defiant Disorder (ODD), Anxiety or Mood Disorder. There is no typical educational program for children with behavioral disorders such as the ones listed above because the difficulties of any individual child with this diagnosis will vary considerably depending on age, presence or absence of associated problems, level of academic functioning, and a variety of other factors (Sweeny, 1998). Behavior disorders in most children are characterized by poor social relationships due to extremes of aggressiveness, lying, defiance, irritability, blaming others, cruelty, stealing, destructiveness, and rage. Many children with behavioral disorders have difficulty monitoring their behavior to fit the changing demands of both school and social situations.
             Nearly all of the behaviors associated with the behavioral disorders may be seen in normal children from time to time. The diagnosis is made when the frequency and persistence of these symptoms result in clinical impairment in social, academic or occupational functioning. Most often children resort to negative behavior such as regressing or being very disobedient in order to communicate feelings that they otherwise cannot express, or in response to the belief that their parents are not acknowledging their
             feelings. Behavioral difficulties might also be an outgrowth of a language problem, often when a child cannot readily understand spoken language or cannot easily put feelings into words. Or they may be part of a family where verbal communication and expressing feelings through words are not encouraged (Forness, 1998). Unfortuna...