Courses & events for education professionals
We offer a suite of training options for education professionals, including live & CPD accredited courses which we deliver on various dates throughout the year and on behalf of other organisations such as schools & residential settings; post 18 education provisions; and local authorities. We also host Q&As and provide pre-recorded webinars and videos on various topics.
Further details are available below or, to quickly navigate to a specific training option, please use the following links:
We are also able to offer a 60–90-minute online consultation, for up to 5 education professionals, to work through perplexing situations involving young people in their setting with a PDA profile. For more information on this service including cost please email: training@pdasociety.org.uk
Live courses
Our live courses are delivered either in-person or online via Zoom (we can also deliver training for organisations via Microsoft Teams if preferred), by our training facilitators who have valuable lived experience of PDA as educators, PDAers themselves, parents, carers and family members.
Our CPD accredited courses are marked with the ‘CPD certified’ logo.
Each course we offer includes the following general content:
- what is PDA?
- demands and their effects
- how PDA can feel
- helpful approaches (including collaborative problem solving)
- signposting to resources & support
These themes are then developed with additional material included depending upon the course – detailed below.
Please note: any legislation/diagnostic approaches discussed are related to England unless stated otherwise. Education programmes are also available covering the Welsh education system, please ask for details.
If you aren’t sure which course is the right one for you, have any questions about any of our courses or would like to enquire about costings or making a booking on behalf of an organisation, please email* our training team at: training@pdasociety.org.uk
Courses we’re currently offering for education professionals include:
PDA for Educators
CPD accredited courses
3-4 hour programmes (delivered as inset day training or 2 x twilight sessions).
Suitable for educators working with young people aged between 5-16 years within mainstream, SEN or autism specific schools. In-house programmes also available to include alternative provisions.
Additional material: legal duties, reasonable adjustments, children as learners, ideas for the classroom and demonstrating progress.
Please email training@pdasociety.org.uk to make a booking enquiry.
Working with & supporting PDA children (education, health & social care) – introduction
CPD accredited courses
1.5-2.5 hour programmes
Aimed at education settings that would prefer an overview rather than more in-depth training but suitable for all professionals (education, health & social care) supporting PDA children aged between 5-16 years.
Additional material: educational good practice.
Please email training@pdasociety.org.uk to make a booking enquiry.
Tickets for upcoming public course dates are available below.
Working with & supporting PDA adults in education – introduction
CPD accredited courses
2-3 hour programmes
Suitable for educators working with post 16 learners looking for a general overview.
Additional material: PDA considerations, good support, self-help ideas.
Please email training@pdasociety.org.uk to make a booking enquiry.
Working with & supporting PDA children (school with residential setting)
3.5-4 hour programmes
Suitable for educators working with young people aged between 5-16 years within SEN or autism specific schools with an attached residential setting.
Additional material: reasonable adjustments, children as learners, successful placements.
Please email training@pdasociety.org.uk to make a booking enquiry.
You may also be interested in…
What is PDA?
2.5-3 hour programmes
Introductory session discussing PDA, including an opportunity to ask questions to a PDA Adult.
Please email training@pdasociety.org.uk to make a booking enquiry.
Tickets for upcoming public course dates are available below.
Working with & supporting PDA young people & adults
3.5-4 hour programmes
Suitable for all professionals supporting PDA young people and adults.
Additional material: teenagers & adults; distressed behaviours; individual needs; inclusive support
Please email training@pdasociety.org.uk to make a booking enquiry.
Tickets for upcoming public course dates are available below.
Q&A Live events
Our online Q&A Live sessions invite guest speakers to answer questions about PDA and specific topics live via Zoom. We are delighted to be able to offer these sessions for ‘free’ thanks to a generous grant from the Openwork Partnership. Links here are available for the live session only. The Q&As will be recorded but you will need to register separately for the recording after the event via the PDA Society training hub. Each new recording will initially be ‘free’ but will become a ‘paid resource’ after a total of 500 live & recorded registrations have been received so please do act quickly!
Questions can be submitted at the time of booking and/or via the Zoom chat function on the night.
It may not be possible to answer all questions depending on the numbers attending and the amount of questions asked. Also it won’t be possible to answer specific questions on personal situations within these Q&A sessions – if you require support please contact our enquiry line.
Full details and tickets for our upcoming Q&A Live events are detailed below.
Post Identification Support
Thursday 25th April 2024 – 8pm – 9pm (GMT)
In our final Q&A within this free series we will be talking about and sharing examples around post identification support for PDA people. Both of our guests are keen to answer questions on what you’d like to know more about rather than assuming what might be important, so please do share your questions at the time of booking.
Our guest speakers will be Dr Anita Marsden, a Clinical Psychologist whose work around PDA has been published by the British Psychological Society and Hannah Harris, a PDA adult with sensory processing disorder, ADHD, auditory processing disorder, dyspraxia and dyslexia who is a neurodivergent coach & consultant and the founder of The Autistic Advantage.
Q&A recordings
You can now pre-register to get the recording of our upcoming Q&A Lives by going to the links below. If you pre-register then the recording will be available to you for 14 days from release.
We also have replays of our past Q&A sessions, where guest speakers answer questions about PDA and specific topics, available to purchase for 30 days by clicking or tapping on the images below.
Already purchased a Q&A recording? Please sign in to the PDA Society training hub (using the same login method used to make the purchase) to access the recording via your dashboard. For further information about using the PDA Society training hub, please refer to our user guide.
The Importance of Diagnosis
Selective Mutism
Navigating Distressed Behaviours Pt. 2
Emotionally Based School Avoidance
Safer PDA Panel Guidance
Education Other Than At School
Effective Provision for PDA Learners
Working with young people or adults in education
Education in conversation with Jilly, Libby & Kym
Transitions into college and work
Sensory Processing
Navigating distressed behaviours
Gaming
Sleep
See all Q&A recordings
Recorded Webinars
In addition to our live training opportunities we are pleased to now offer recorded webinars exploring a variety of topics.
These are available to purchase for £10 each and that will provide you with access to the webinar for 30 days
Working with PDA children in education – an overview
See all recorded webinars
FREE webinars
The following pre-recoded webinars, videos and podcasts which may be of interest to education professionals are free to watch by clicking or tapping on the images below.
Introduction to PDA
What is PDA?
Demand Avoidance of the PDA Kind
PDA & masking
PDA & school avoidance
Best practice – the professional voice
Best practice – the PDA community’s voice
See all free webinars
If you aren’t sure which course is the right one for you, or have any questions about any of our training, or would like to enquire about costings or making a booking on behalf of an organisation, please email* our training team at: training@pdasociety.org.uk
*Please note: our emails can sometimes be filtered into junk/spam/social/promotions folders – please check yours if you haven’t heard back from us in your inbox within 3-5 working days.