Thanks, mamya -------- it is awful and we're running out of time before hormones kick in. He's been talked to and talked to and understood, cuddled and programmes set...…… it seems to make no difference. At the moment he seems set for academic failure, resistance (he's very bright actually) and anti-social behaviour. Well, wrong thread for this, but I am very worried about this. He lashes out viciously, I have seen adults back off from him and say kindly that he must not do this - but he does! So much for nurture. I believe that if he'd been smacked as a tiny he'd have understood about smacks hurting and so wouldn't have done it to others.