Good Practice & Insight
Found 36 listings
Practice Guidance for Professionals – Ireland
The 'Mapping Experiences of PDA in Ireland Study', Doyle and Kenny, was published in 2020.
A report describes the research and findings in detail.
In addition, the study resulted in the development of a series of seven practical and appealing advice sheets for professionals and parents. They have been published by PRISM [...]
PDA Strategies: the PANDA sheet
This sheet illustrates the key strategies which are helpful in working with and understanding someone with a PDA profile of autism.
Conventional support strategies, including those often recommended for ASD, are often ineffective and counter-productive with a PDA profile of autism.
In place of structure, routine, firm boundaries, praise, rewards/consequences, is [...]
DHSC statement on PDA
The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) does not take a position on matters of clinical debate, but does recognise that there is a valid debate on the PDA profile, and highlights the need for specific support for individuals.
Extract from published ministerial statement “…When assessing how best to [...]
Tim’s Top Tips: ideas for adults
Tim Collins is an adult who was recently diagnosed with PDA. Along with sharing his story with us (please see his case study) he has kindly created a list of Top Tips designed to help adults navigate their way through life.
Daily life
Keep a notepad and pencil handy at [...]
Challenging school exclusions
Children and young people with PDA or other forms of autism, or indeed other special educational needs, can struggle with behaviour which challenges. Our Being Misunderstood survey showed that almost 1 in 10 had experienced permanent exclusion at some stage.
This has been possible because schools have said that the [...]
School refusal guide
This extensive guide was written by a doctoral student and her co-founder of 'Not Fine in School'. There is a summary guide and a guide for schools also available from their website alongside many other sources of information and support.
It describes in detail what parents can do to support [...]
Coping with Christmas
A description of approaches that can be helpful for managing Christmas and other family celebrations.
Created as a downloadable pdf
Adults: PDA & mental health
The following is a summary of Dr Judy Eaton's talk at the PDA Society Conference in Birmingham on 18th April 2018
Judy opened by sayings that people often ask her “what is this PDA? There was never this PDA when we were younger. Where were all these people?”. Her response [...]
Workplace adjustments: employers’ guide
Businesses and employers are increasingly recognising the benefits of employing autistic people, but much more still needs to be done. The Chief Executive of the National Autistic Society recently said “most autistic people who want to work aren’t able to work” because conventional roles and workplaces can present many [...]
Education Provision and Support – Guidance
Children and Young People with PDA: Guidelines for Educational Provision and Support
This guidance was prepared by the PDA Development Group and published in December 2019. It provides and introduction to the topic, describing key principles and how to put the principles into practice.
The PDA Development Group comprises a group [...]
PDA: Why social workers need to know
Pathological demand avoidance: what is it and why do social workers need to know?
Cathleen Long explains how an understanding of this part of the autism spectrum can help support parents.
This article was published in Community Care - a leading online resource for social workers, in May 2019. It describes [...]
Pathological Demand Avoidance: summary sheet
A one-page explanation of the PDA profile, produced by the PDA Development Group and published in June 2016. It describes the main features and the key approaches to supporting a PDA person.
The PDA Development Group comprises a group of clinical and professional experts, and includes representation from the NAS [...]
Good diagnostic assessment – children
This information has been produced by the PDA Development Group, August 2017. The PDA Development Group is an informal group comprised of representatives from the NAS and PDA Society and individual practitioners with an interest in PDA from a range of disciplines (education, paediatrics, psychology, research) working in both [...]
PDA Reference Booklet for Health, Education and Social Care Practitioners
This booklet was initially produced and printed in 2014 as part of our 'Awareness Matters' campaign and revised in 2016.
The booklet will be useful to Health, Education and Social Care Practitioners.
This is a free electronic resource. Distribution is positively encouraged. In addition, the PDA Society can supply hard copies [...]
Evidence for use of PDA terminology
Evidence for Professional Consideration of Demand Avoidance in Autism Assessments
The continued debate around the use of PDA as a diagnostic term has led to polarisation amongst professionals, and the potential for friction between families and clinicians.
This document presents some of the evidence, including Government statements, which demonstrate that it [...]
Supporting a move in education
This article offers some practical suggestions on how you might support pupils who have a PDA profile through a school transition phase, and how you can start to build up their educational confidence during the early stages of their placement. PDA children can challenge school environments and policies, as [...]
Mind Map for schools
This 'Mind Map' is a useful resource for teachers, and anyone involved in providing support to a young person.
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Simple Strategies for Supporting Children at School
'Simple Strategies for Supporting Children with Pathological Demand Avoidance at School'
At school these children often struggle to reach their full potential because of their need to be in control. The invisible barrier of anxiety and avoidance is often forgotten and the child appears to be choosing to not engage [...]
Assessing speech & language needs
10 tips for assessing speech & language needs in children with PDA
by Libby Hill, Speech and Language Therapist
Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is a profile on the autism spectrum. As its name suggests, people with a PDA profile avoid demands to an extreme extent. Not in the way that all [...]
Statement about diagnostic terminology
PDA Society Statement, published May 2019
There is confusion for individuals, parents, clinicians and academics about what PDA is or isn’t – this can and does lead to misunderstanding and poor outcomes for many. As part of our PDA Day 2019 suite of resources, we thought it may be helpful [...]
Self-help, coping strategies and therapies for adult PDAers
If you wish to read online, you might prefer the article in the Adult Life section of the Society's website. Here we include a downloadable PDF of the same information.
It includes suggestions for self-help, coping strategies and therapies which were assembled from a variety of first-hand accounts shared by adults, [...]
Good educational practice
Examples of good educational practice for PDA pupils
These extracts showing good practice in education for pupils with a PDA Profile are shared with kind permission from the authors of these two books:
Fidler, R. and Christie, P. (2019) Collaborative Approaches to Learning for Pupils with PDA: Strategies for Education [...]
Parenting good practice – blog posts
Many parents have written about their experiences and strategies that they have used. Here are links to some of the blog posts which are particularly useful:
The Learning Curve The Principles of a No Demand or Low Demand Approach & How it has worked for Us.
Love PDA 'Demand [...]
Spectrum Space: alternative learning
Personalised learning provision: Spectrum Space case study
The PDA Society is very grateful to Clare Truman, who set up Spectrum Space, for sharing details of the successful model she has developed for personalised learning programmes that have worked well for children and young people with a PDA profile of autism. [...]
Parenting Strategies – presentation summaries
The following is a summary of talks by Natalie Menagh and Lisa Atkin “Parenting Strategies - Early years & Teenagers” at the PDA Society Conference in Birmingham on 18th April 2018
Natalie Menagh – Early years
Natalie started by saying she definitely doesn’t have all the answers and that she and [...]
Engaging children in learning
The following is a summary of Ruth Fidler's talk “Engaging children with PDA in learning & promoting their emotional wellbeing” at the PDA Society Conference in Birmingham on 18th April 2018
Ruth began by acknowledging the difficulties parents and individuals with PDA faced to attend the conference and thanked everyone [...]
PDA… the story so far
The following is a summary of Phil Christie's talk “PDA... the story so far” at the PDA Society Conference in Birmingham on 18th April 2018
Personal journey
Phil first paid tribute to Professor Elizabeth Newson’s pioneering work around PDA, saying “possibly without Elizabeth we wouldn’t be gathered here today”.
Phil reflected on [...]
PDA Guidance website
PDA Guidance Blog, created by Jane Sherwin contains guidance about navigating the diagnostic pathway, the special education needs pathway, strategies and links to various websites etc.
Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome was a term coined in the 1980’s by Professor Elizabeth Newson to describe a group of children that presented with a [...]
AET National Autism Standards
This extensive paper entitled 'The Distinctive Clinical and Educational Needs of Children with Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome: Guidelines for Good Practice' was written by Phil Christie and originally published in the Good Autism Practice Journal. It is reprinted by the Autism Education Trust (AET) to accompany their National Autism [...]
Tool to support diagnosis of ASD / PDA / Attachment disorders
Modification of the Coventry Grid Interview to include the Pathological Demand Avoidant profile
The Coventry Grid Interview was designed to be used by clinicians as part of a comprehensive assessment process and not as a stand-alone diagnostic tool.
There is often diagnostic confusion over the differences between children presenting with autism [...]