So I have a special needs child and it's hard for him to keep all the scary information to himself. He wants to tell the world and this last week was a very difficult one for him since the detective came by our house to let us know that our case was closed. That set off his extreme frustration with life due to his righteous anger over the fact that his monster friend would not be punished! He decided to share some more personal information with his special education teacher and my sister.

Now his special education teacher had been made aware that we were going through a police investigation due to a bullying situation, however she did not know anything about the details of my son also being a situation. It was a little embarrassing to say the least and apparently quite the emotional session for him. However, she was very understanding and knows that I've been doing everything I'm supposed to and simply encouraged me in a way to help my special son have an emotional Outlet through gardening. (Fyi, she's retired and I employ her to aid me in homeschooling him.)

On the other hand, my sister actually ended up being here when the detective showed up and that was her first real taste that what we had been sharing before was true and not me fabricating some crazy story. I had been trying to help my daughter that day with cleaning up some of her toys in the front room but she had been having a very bad day and was unable to. I had asked her point-blank " are you not able to help today" and my sister, a special needs teacher herself, got all over me for not being harder when she said no. She let it go that day but then when I followed up with her about the fact that my son had shared more information, she brought it up again. So I took that opportunity to bring her into our circle of trust by divulging a little bit more information about our situation. I had waited this long because she lives with extended family that is extremely nosey and dramatic in their reactions to life. So I shared with her that my daughter has PTSD. Her response? "Well, did she almost die or something? !" I answered yes and immediately she retorted, "well, how in the world did you not know something about THAT?!" Then she went on to try to compare my daughter and the way that I should work with her to the most traumatized child that she has in her special needs class. In case I didn't mention it, my sister is a special needs teacher. She went on to try to compare my daughter to a little girl who apparently had been molested by her uncle and abused by her family. She also had this crazy notion that anyone that has anxiety should be treated the same way.. as in "buck up, face your fears, this is life" type of response from those around them. She continued to fight with me about how my daughter had reacted to my question in regards to helping clean up and I kept telling her " the way that you treat someone has to be linked to the reason for the trauma and in her case I can't just force her to work. We have a system that I have been using and learned over the last eight months of trying to heal. If my daughter says she can't, it's because she has a memory in her head that is causing her too much anxiety and my forcing her to do what she can't exasperates it." I also pointed out to her that she doesn't live with me and has absolutely no clue how I normally deal with my daughter when I can tell that she might be manipulating due to her circumstances. She has no clue how hard it's been to just even get to the point where my daughter can focus to do some kind of school work let alone cleaning up an overwhelming mess! Anyways our conversation got ugly it brought up Old Wounds. I became emotional. She became emotional. We ended on a very bad note. And to complicate matters, she's supposed to somehow take two of my other children on special dates before she moves in a month. But now she isn't talking to me. My kids are asking "when do I get to go on my special date?" The last thing I want is more drama in my family when I'm supposed to be able to lean on them and get support.

I guess my question is has anyone else had this type of a response from family when they shared a little bit more about your situation? Is it normal for people to constantly question and undermine the truth? I'm trying to figure this out because naturally for some reason my family disregards what I say as fantastical. (It has to do with some childhood abusive Dynamics.) Is it normal for people to not believe your story about your child's sexual abuse especially diagnosis from professionals?