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Abstract: 

Approximately half of preschoolers display disruptive behaviors over time, and a subset of these children will exhibit behaviors that continue to escalate. Once established, disruptive behaviors become strikingly stable over time and are resistant to treatment. Although the most commonly used and widely researched effective treatment for ADHD is the use of stimulant medication, the focus of this article is, for a number of reasons, on psychosocial treatments. The article summarizes a broad range of preventive and early intervention treatments for young children that have been found to be effective in reducing ADHD symptoms and their associated disruptive behaviors and negative features. Taking a “goodness of fit” approach, the successful interventions alter the environmental demands placed on the child through parent or teacher training, or improve the skills and competencies that children bring to their interactions with family, peers, and teachers, or both.

Keywords: preschoolers; disruptive behavior; ADHD; early intervention; psychosocial treatment; children’s mental health

Affiliations:  1: University of Virginia Center for Advanced Study of Teaching and Learning, Curry School of Education; 2: University of North Carolina at Greensboro Center for Youth, Family, and Community Partnerships.