Case Studies - Older Children & Teens
Found 17 listings
Surviving A-Levels – Jo’s story
Personal Reflection: Surviving A-Levels by Jo.
Jo is a PDA young adult. He studied A-Level Philosophy, Maths and English at a mainstream school and shares his personal experience here, offering valuable insights for both young people and adults. Jo reflects on some of the challenges he faced and the approaches [...]
Keira’s story
Keira is 17 and currently doing very well after a 10 year struggle with an eating disorder and difficulties related to her PDA profile not being understood or supported by health and social care. Her story illustrates the life-changing impact when professionals adapt their practice to be person-centred and [...]
Winning a Blue Peter competition – Naomi’s story
Hi, I’m Naomi (age 12), I have PDA and I recently won a Blue Peter (BP) competition!
The whole filming experience was pretty overwhelming but also gave me some amazing and life-long memories. I think PDAers find it really difficult to experience and try new things as we usually try to [...]
Beth’s story
Beth’s Dad Jeremy tells the devastating and disturbing story (trigger warning: this case study includes details of self-harm, restraint and abuse) of how Beth was ‘failed by the system’. Jeremy covers Beth’s early years, her 19 placements in 6 years, her first section aged 11 and her fateful move [...]
James’ story
James is 14 and kindly shared this extract he wrote about his experience of PDA. His insightful and honest account covers how PDA can be misunderstood; masking; school; the need to have ‘demand free’ time; the importance of trust in relationships; the impact of the Covid pandemic and what [...]
Q&A with Sage – teenage PDAer
Q&A with a PDA teenager Sage who volunteered to answer questions posed by the online PDA community on a variety of topics. Sage wants to “help people understand that there’s light at the end of the tunnel and that PDA can be managed when it’s understood properly.”
Agnes’ Story
During her early years at school Agnes was a model pupil - in stark contrast to the behaviour she displayed at home. Her parents and siblings struggled to understand where her outbursts of anger stemmed from. Over time Agnes’s school related anxiety increased until she began a period of [...]
Freddie’s Story
Freddie was diagnosed with Atypical Autism and ADHD just before his 12th birthday. His parents didn’t feel these diagnoses explained the difficulties Freddie was experiencing. PDA had been mentioned to them a few years previously and they adopted many PDA-friendly strategies to help him. Freddie’s family have seen vast [...]
John’s Story
Through her own research, John’s Mum felt he had many autistic traits but that there were boxes he didn’t fit. John struggled on with a non-specific autism diagnosis but school attendance was erratic and recommended strategies made him worse. After a lengthy battle and multiple diagnoses, John was eventually [...]
Michael’s Story
An ASD diagnosis helped Michael’s parents justify their need to parent differently, something they had previously felt blamed for. However Asperger’s didn’t fully or accurately describe his presentation, whereas PDA fits him ‘like a glove’. Michael’s Mum had found herself naturally adopting PDA-friendly strategies through her own trial and [...]
Milly’s Story
After years of increasingly challenging behaviour, an inaccurate Asperger’s diagnosis and no professional support, my family was in complete crisis. Only through my own tenacity, the support of fellow parents and consistent use of PDA strategies have we been able to see the light at the end of the [...]
Dan’s Story
Because Dan masked his difficulties at school, whilst his anxiety was sky high at home and it was a daily battle to get him to attend, it was only when he ran from school that we were taken seriously. Despite school & external agencies working hard, their efforts were [...]
Katie’s Story
Children like Katie seem too complicated for the usual system, no one knows what to do with them. This puts all the pressure on the parents. And yet my evidence and strong belief that Katie had PDA were dismissed and my parenting blamed. Advice targeting the incorrect diagnosis of [...]
Thomas’ Story – A mainstream school experience
Finding a school which works – Thomas’ Story
As identified in our Being Misunderstood report 70% of children with a PDA profile of autism are not in school or regularly struggle to attend. This figure is much higher than for the autistic population as a whole and shows how challenging [...]
The Link School – Making PDA adaptations
The Link School – a case study on making PDA adaptations
The Link School, a special Academy based in the London borough of Sutton, realised they needed to adapt their approach to supporting PDA children and young people to access education. They have explored different approaches, listened to the families [...]
Oliver’s Story – a mainstream student experience
Thank you for helping me grow. - A mainstream student’s experience
Ceri Hamer is the headteacher for a mainstream primary school in Lancashire. Here she tells us about a PDA student and the help and support the school provided to them. The pupil’s name has been changed.
Oliver arrived at [...]
Jake’s Story – flexibility, negotiation and adaptation
Jake was diagnosed autistic with complex needs including high anxiety when he was 6 years old. Jake’s profile had a huge impact on many aspects of home life and there were many barriers to accessing any education provision for him.
Jake attended a specialist provision, but this broke down [...]