So many boys who are aggressive but have potentially treatable disorders are dismissed as simply conduct disordered or incarcerated rather than diagnosed and treated properly. Conduct disorder is often a lazy diagnosis. Educators and therapists must learn to recognize the fact that almost every serious psychiatric disorder of childhood can manifest itself by aggressive behavior. Disturbed children are rarely articulate about their psychological pain and have only a small repertoire of behaviors with which to show hurt. One of the most common causes of repeated aggressive behaviors in children is the paranoid misperception of being endangered or disrespected.
Educators are in excellent positions to recognize when children are headed for trouble.
For example, when children of normal intelligence have trouble concentrating, fail to do their work, and get into hassles with peers and teachers, they are telling you that they are having difficulty coping with some sorts of stressors. The stressors may be intrinsic, environmental, or a combination of both. Negative changes in student performance or school attendance are also clues that something is going wrong in that student's life. Of course we can. When the psychological, medical, educational, and family vulnerabilities contributing to a child's aggression are addressed, beha-vior improves.