as PART OF their normal development, preschool-
age children are highly active, often A
moody, and aggressive. Moreover, typical
preschoolers disobey 25% to 50% of their parents’
commands.1 With such frequent negative behavior
typical of young children, how can parents decide
if the “bad” behavior they are seeing in their preschooler
signifies a significant concern or is within
normal limits? Disruptive behavior refers to a wide
range of conduct problems, such as oppositional,
stubborn, aggressive, and impulsive behaviors, that
cluster together and occur at higher rates than usual
for preschoolers of the same age. Normal children
show many of the problem behaviors seen in
children with diagnosed disruptive behavior, but
their behavior problems are fewer and occur less
frequently.2 Disruptive behavior occurs at the same
rate in chronically ill as healthy children, and
although children with developmental disabilities
have a higher rate of disruptive behavior than
others, their scores on measures of disruptive
behavior remain within normal limits on average.2