Interview by Lucinda Leo* (Children’s names have been changed)

When did you first notice your son was different from other children?
When he was about two-and-a-half, our son suddenly changed from being a calm, alert baby  to being so full of  energy and determination that  he was just all over the place. If Daniel  set his mind on something, nothing could stop him. To keep him safe we had to use reins, which was really frowned upon by other people. In church, people would look at us like we were abusing him!

He hated crowds, so groups were a problem. For example, if we went into  the library and there was a group on, we’d have to leave. He wouldn’t participate at activities like sing-and-sign or gym, instead he’d just go off and do his own thing.

When he started pre-school it was obvious Daniel was very different from the other children. He would get overwhelmed and lash out, pushing and reacting out of proportion. Read on for the rest of the interview

"Connecting Positively with your 'OE' Child or Teenager" is designed to help you understand what you and your child need to enable positive dialogue and develop a clear connection.  You’ll learn how strong emotions may affect development and behaviour, as well as discovering more about influencing factors such as Asynchronous Development, OverExcitability and High Ability.

"I thought it was brilliant.Very inspiring and and just what we needed for our family. I gained confidence in myself and my choices and to get tools to help our family." Mum of a nine and two-year-old.

This workshop will help parents with the skills needed to help their child to understand and control their own emotions and behaviour. You’ll also be introduced to strategies that can make challenging situations more manageable and build greater communication. The workshop will be led by Simone de Hoogh.

"Simone - very knowledgeable and shared your knowledge in structured way so very understandable. Really liked the final exercise, where we decided how to make a plan for a child." Mum of a 15 and 10-year-old.

 "Every part, more time to discuss examples and process information would be great, I’d gladly do another day on it! Thank you for a wonderfully informative day." ( mum of 2 boys and one girl)