James Barrett, PhD

So often boys are referred for services because of explosive verbal or physical behavior.  The difficulty is that often the same behavior (e.g., telling a teacher to screw off) can have different causes in different boys.  For instance, some boys talk back to teachers because they have an undiagnosed learning disability and are ashamed of not understanding the lessons.  Other boys may have a trauma history and feel threatened by the teacher.  In other cases, a boy may not respond well to authority and frequently get into power struggles with the teacher.  These examples highlight the importance of having a trained professional properly diagnose the behavioral difficulties that a boy presents with and proceed with the best course of treatment.