Mother says son’s school distress is worsening as he awaits assessment

Not every child returned to school after the summer holiday with excitement, DR reports. For seven-year-old Magnus, who lives near Aalborg with his parents and younger sister, the start of the school year was marked by severe distress.

His mother, Maria Stavad Hansen, shared a photograph on Facebook showing Magnus wearing large headphones and facing a yellow brick wall in his classroom. The post, titled “This is what the first day of school can also look like”, has received several thousand reactions.

“Right now, Facebook is full of pictures of happy, excited children ready for a new school year. Our son started in class 1A on 13 August. He was not happy,” she wrote.

Hansen says Magnus was exhausted despite having had a long summer holiday. His condition has worsened since he began school a year ago, she says, and he experiences severe stress reactions after coming home.

“He says he wants to die and hates himself,” she told DR.

The family has also seen other serious signs of distress. Hansen says Magnus has talked about swallowing plastic to die, been found holding a hammer against his forehead and tried to stab himself with a fork. On one occasion, she says, he placed a sleeping bag over his younger sister’s face while she was asleep and said that she was going to die.

He has also said he wants to hurt his sister with a knife, so the family has hidden knives and scissors. The family has repeatedly filed notifications of concern with the municipality in the hope of receiving urgent help.

Hansen says the family suspects Magnus may have autism, a diagnosis she has herself. She believes the demands placed on him at school are overwhelming him and causing him to become increasingly distressed.

Before Magnus started school, the family contacted the pedagogical psychological counselling service, a municipal unit that assesses children’s need for support at school and can refer them for psychiatric assessment. Several meetings have been held and psychological assessments carried out over the past year, but Magnus has not yet been assessed for a diagnosis.

“It is completely bewildering that, in Denmark in 2026, you cannot get faster help for your child,” Hansen said.

After several examinations, the family has now been allowed to complete an extensive questionnaire about Magnus’s wellbeing with their doctor. They are waiting to hear whether he can receive a referral and be placed on a waiting list for an assessment.

Merete Villsen, acting head of the counselling service in Aalborg Municipality, told DR in a written comment that she could not discuss individual cases. She said that when a child needs help, the municipality begins with dialogue between the home and the institution or school, involving relevant professionals as needed.

Villsen said that when a pedagogical psychological assessment is required, the municipality’s starting point is that it should be completed within two months, a deadline Aalborg Municipality meets.