ABSTRACT
Veronica, a single mother, sought our help with her twelve-month-old son Peter. They lived a considerable distance from the clinic and could not travel for regular sessions so it was decided to offer them two long consultations over a two-day period. All I knew before seeing them was that Veronica was severely disabled and was assisted in her mothering of her son by a team of carers. On the telephone she posed her central question: ‘How can I get my son to listen to my “no’s” in the same way as he does to the others?’ Not an altogether unusual issue for parents of older babies on their way to toddlerhood, but in the particular context of this family, it had multiple layers of meaning.
