Before I had my son, I spent two years working with children with disabilities. This blanket statement covered a whole range of additional needs and diagnoses, including tourette’s syndrome, autistic spectrum disorder, down syndrome, and severe behavioural difficulties, amongst many others. The young people ranged from aged three to eighteen.

I learned very quickly that shouting and threats of punishment, such as loss of privileges, could escalate a bit of a situation in to an almighty catastrophe. Coming up against the behaviour and trying to lay down the law, only served to make my job harder and the behaviour more extreme.

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