We are a group of parents who are raising challenging children. Our kids have many different issues and diagnoses, but they all can be oppositional, defiant and resistant to parenting. We are committed to helping our children grow and flourish. This can be a hard road and the support of other parents who have dealt with similar issues can save your sanity. Parents often stumble upon our forum while searching the internet for information to help their child. Faced with the challenges of raising a difficult child they often find themselves feeling helpless, confused, deserted, exhausted, useless and guilty. This site offers a place to share experiences with other parents in similar situations: you are not the first parent to face these challenges and you will not be the last.
Our forum started in the mid-90's when Mama Bear, a desperate parent, reached out to other parents by starting a message board called “A Place for Us.” A few years later the forum combined forces with the ConductDisorders.com website to create “a soft place to land for the battle weary parent.” The original ConductDisorders.com website was created in 1998 by Deborah (Abbey) McHugh, a drop-out prevention teacher. Abbey had no problem with the roughest of the rough kids in her junior high classroom. She always had good rapport, trust and respect from her students. These were the kids no one else wanted to teach but for some reason she connected with them.
All of that training and experience had no impact on dealing with a behavior disorder in her own family. What worked professionally didn't even scratch the surface at home. She did all the “right” things (all types of counseling, in-patient rehabilitation, endless evaluations, juvenile justice system) while enduring the constant scrutiny from well-meaning extended family and friends as to why she just couldn't make her own son behave. Deborah created ConductDisorders.com to give us a place to share our experiences and support each other in our quest to help our children.
Fran was next at the ConductDisorders.com helm. She refers to herself as a former caretaker or parent emeritus of the site. Fran committed her time and energy to building a strong supportive community that would be there for the future parents of challenging children. Her leadership and strength of character have proven essential to the structure and growth of our exceptional community. Fran has a gift for knowing just the right thing to say or do in difficult situations. Her hard work and commitment to the website will live on into the future as our community and resources continue to grow.
The ConductDisorders.com community is quite diverse in member location and demographics, what we all have in common is a commitment to do our best to help our difficult to parent children. We invite you to join us, read our conversations and participate when you are ready. You are not alone.
Cheryl Ferraro
Style and Design LLC
