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In 2022 the PDA Society collated the professional practice and experience of a multidisciplinary group of professionals and published ‘Identifying & Assessing a PDA profile – Practice Guidance’ for clinical practitioners and other professionals who are involved in neurodevelopmental assessments.

Here’s a letter/email template which can be personalised and used to inform anyone involved in neurodevelopmental assessments about this practice guidance.

Who should I send it to?

It would be helpful if everyone could send this to their local autism assessment centres, clinical practitioners and autism teams so the guidance is distributed as widely as possible. You could also use the template to inform clinicians about the practice guidance when requesting a referral or support.

This flyer can also be attached to your email or printed and enclosed with your letter to draw the recipient’s attention to essential information about the practice guidance at a glance.

How do I use the Template?

To use the template, please copy and paste the text below into an email or word/google document. The template can then be personalised by editing or replacing the [bold text in square brackets] with your own details and experiences. We’ve included a link to the practice guidance on our website or you can download a copy here to attached to your email if you prefer.

Dear [Name of the professional or team you are writing to],

Thank you for the work you do.

Getting an assessment that provides helpful information about what helps is transformational for all autistic people. For PDA people getting an autism assessment that addresses their anxiety response to demands, and lets them know that traditional autism approaches may be unhelpful can prevent years of unnecessary harm. I know how much you value the wellbeing of those you assess so I am writing to share with you practice guidance produced by the PDA Society to aid identification and assessment of the ‘constellation of traits’ commonly known as a PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance) profile.

The guidance collates the professional practice and experience of a multidisciplinary group of professionals who all have extensive experience of assessing and supporting PDA individuals in the NHS and private practice in England.

The practice guidance for identifying and assessing a PDA profile also distinguishes PDA from other presentations of marked demand avoidance and signposts the differentiated strategies and approaches that are recommended and can prove transformational.

[You could add some details here about why implementation of the practice guidance is important to you and examples of how the recommended approaches for PDA have made a difference and helped you/your child/the PDA person you know] 

An electronic copy of the guidance is [free to download via the link below: / attached to this email - delete as applicable] https://www.pdasociety.org.uk/what-is-pda-menu/identifying-assessing-pda/ and printed copies can be ordered from the PDA Society by emailing leaflets@pdasociety.org.uk.

Thank you for your time and attention to this important matter. As a professional involved in neurodevelopmental assessments, I hope the guidance will assist you and your team and help improve the health and wellbeing outcomes and quality of life for PDA autistic people in your care.

Yours sincerely,

[Your name]