Please or to access all these features

SEN

Here you'll find advice from parents and teachers on special needs education.

I’m at the end of my capacity

5 replies

Poppinsbutwitharucksack · 22/10/2026 11:22

I just need to vent because I’m at the end of a fine thread. DS aged 11 ADHD and PDA profiling. Never does absolutely anything that he is asked. I am patient and consistent, understanding and usually very regulated but if I allowed it, everything would get turned into a row.

I work full time and have absolutely no support at home. I single parent full time. My son has every need I can possibly reach met, and then some. I’ve worked in the SEN sector for years, so have a lot of experience. He is constantly dopamine seeking in forms of food and spending, and something I have to work hard to control. He will literally eat until he’s sick if allowed, and once got my bank card out of my purse and spent hundreds of pounds in an hour.

He’s most of the time very loving and respectful of others, but to me he can be the most demanding, disrespectful, and sometimes hurtful lad. He was begging for at the other day, to which I declined as he’s had stuff this week already. In the end he was shouting at me. I told him to stop and that it’s not at all right to speak to me this way, and he came back with his usual response of he’s joking and doesn’t mean it.

Last night I was trying to paint a room at home, he was in and out and when asked to stop because I didn’t want him getting paint on him, he began refusing and threw himself on the floor, refusing to move. I tried to usher him out, which then led to him pushing me and grabbing hold of the walls, paint everywhere. At this point I lost it and began to shout. He was asked soooo many times to stop but point blank refused. We’re now arguing and he starts telling me I’m a child abuser. At this point I took myself away, and he followed me. He’d phoned his friend unbeknown to me, and was crying and saying I’d hit him.

His friend called back about 20 minutes later, after I’d finally locked myself in the bathroom and he’d left me alone, he was speaking to his friend on loudspeaker and his friend was on about ringing the police on me, and that his mum is reporting me to social services. At this point, I just burst into tears. He apologised after but is still convinced he did nothing and I am the problem. He was then throwing it in my face how I don’t have a big house to leave him like his friends have, mainly the boy he spoke to on the phone. He was then saying how I need to get a man, because there needs to be a man in the house.

I am absolutely at the end of my tether. There is honestly nothing more I can do for this boy, we’re awaiting therapy for him, we attend a neurokids session for similar kids every week, he’s loved, encouraged and cared for. I’m honestly in a dark place and wondering where I go from here, or what hell I’m going to be blamed for next.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Phineyj · 23/10/2026 09:48

I don't have anything much to add to the excellent advice already given except:

No-one ever died because a room wasn't redecorated. Some things just can't be achieved with our types of children. Redecorating may have triggered some anxiety? DD (AuDHD, PDA) craves novelty but can't always deal with change. She is also super sensitive to smell and paint is stinky.

When she used to get aggressively up in my face I used to lock myself in the loo or my home office. I am not single though.

It is awful when they enlist friends and their parents in this way. The other parent may have rolled their eyes though!

A book I like is 10 Days to a Less Defiant Child (Jeffrey Bernstein).

IAlreadyHadMyCoffee · 22/10/2026 20:32

I'd contact PEGS https://www.pegsupport.co.uk/

for advice, and speak with school to let tgem know about false allegations he's made. I'd ask Early Help for advice too. He needs to be aware his actions have consequences, and that others are aware of these. This is unpopular opinion but if this is his behaviour at 11, you need to consider what to do and how to respond when he repeats it when older.

PEGS | Child to Parent Abuse Support for Parents & Carers

PEGS supports parents and carers experiencing Child to Parent Abuse, offering guidance, training, resources and awareness across the UK.

https://www.pegsupport.co.uk

Nothingspecialhere · 22/10/2026 19:14

Just want to send you a huge hug and say I hear you. Mum to an AuDHD daughter. It’s relentless, and you are doing it alone.

I think the questions above are very valid - medication? EHCP? We can only do so much in the home, but wider influences have a huge impact on what is experienced at home with their safe person.

Dark places are hard to get out from. Can you put him into a club few days a week in half term to give you some time? Do you have any family? Close friends? Take care x

CyclingMumKent · 22/10/2026 18:14

I am so sorry
my son is 8, PDA, and the abuse is making me really ill and in a very dark place too.
i ll finally get a place in am NVR class next year so that might help.
sending love

roaringdragon · 22/10/2026 13:28

Is DS on ADHD medication? If so, when was it last reviewed?

Does DS have an EHCP? If so, what support is included in there? If he doesn’t have an EHCP, has an EHCNA been requested?

What type of therapy are you waiting for?

Have you had social care assessments? A carer’s assessment for you and an assessment by the children with disabilities team for DS.

If you haven’t already, some people find non-violent resistance resources useful. Some find the books the Declarative Language handbook, the Out of Sync Child and the Explosive Child helpful. The first book in particular along with NVR resources will help you think about the language you use when communicating with DS.

Some parents find counselling for themselves helpful.