Although extreme defiance can signal a more serious problem, such as oppositional defiant disorder, occasional defiance and non-compliance are
normal child behavior problems.
Father could misinterpret this as the child wanting to be with him, and Mom not caring well enough for him — deadly weapons in a custody battle brought on
by normal child behaviors.
Symptoms of ODD in contrast to
normal child behaviors may include:
«Use them to give you a big picture of things like child development so you have a sense about what's
normal child behavior, or to find ideas on how to solve a particular problem, such as colic or toilet training,» Spencer explains.
However recent studies showed that ODD could be separated both from CD and
normal child behavior and must be studied independently to be well understood [11].