What a Difference a Day Makes: Selling my business to prioritise my young son after an ADHD diagnosis

Scientist, entrepreneur and mother-of-one Dr Barbara Paldus tells Helen O’Callaghan about the life-changing decision to sell her business and prioritise her son, after he’d been diagnosed with ADHD and doctors warned he was at risk of very serious self-harm.

Barbara Paldus with son Josef: "a thriving teenager, six feet tall, a big, solid guy, he loves science, animals, plants – he has his own garden."

It was the fall of 2016. My son, Josef, was seven-and-a-half. Things hadn’t been going well at school – he couldn’t focus so we had him tested.

Two months of testing – we were there every week with the psychologist running different tests. Josef was officially diagnosed with ADHD, dysgraphia and high anxiety. That was like the first knife in the heart because you want your child to be perfect.