Good Practice & Insight
Found 44 listings
PDA & Sleep
The PDA Society and The Sleep Charity have worked together to develop this resource about PDA & Sleep which is based on our sleep survey results and the lived experience of PDA people and sleep practitioners.
This 4 page resource covers the key difficulties people told us they experience around [...]
Information sheet for social care professionals
This 2 page resource gives social care professionals an introduction to key information about PDA, including how PDA may present in children and adults, examples of good practice and helpful approaches plus where to find further information.
Published by: PDA Society, March 2022
Download sheet
Identifying & Assessing a PDA profile – Practice Guidance
Practice guidance collating the professional practice and experience of a multidisciplinary group of professionals working in the NHS and private practice.
The goal of this document is to aid assessment of a PDA profile, to distinguish PDA from other presentations of marked demand avoidance, and to signpost appropriate support and [...]
Helpful approaches for special occasions
Special occasions, celebrations and holidays can be overwhelming for autistic people, so we've put together some general suggestions of helpful approaches for PDA families & individuals which can also be shared with wider family & friends to help everyone understand what helps.
This one-page information sheet is free to view and [...]
Helpful approaches for parents/carers
This 2 page information sheet provides a summary of PDA helpful approaches for parents and carers.
Autism and the PDA profile are ‘dimensional’ – meaning they vary a lot from one person to another and at different times or with different people – so parents/carers need a ‘toolkit’ of helpful [...]
Information sheet for teaching professionals
This 2 page resource gives education professionals bitesize information about PDA, including how PDA may look in school, good practice and helpful approaches plus where to find further information.
Published by: PDA Society, August 2021 and updated October 2021
Download sheet
A third party German translation of this resource is also available [...]
What is PDA? information sheet
This information sheet contains some essential information about PDA and what helps, in an easily shareable format... it can be downloaded & emailed or printed & shared with others.
Published by: PDA Society, May 2021
Download/print sheet
Also available in this series are our What is PDA? booklet and What is PDA? video.
A third party [...]
Letter to professionals
Sharing information with the professionals you’re in contact with is a great way to raise awareness and increase understanding of PDA. For PDA Day 2021 we created this new one page letter with some essential information about PDA that’s easy to share … it can be downloaded & emailed [...]
Local position statements on PDA
Local authorities, NHS trusts and other bodies are increasingly producing and sharing information about PDA within local areas. This page contains links to such information.
Local position statements
Some local areas have found it helpful to state their position on the use of terminology around PDA.
Examples of formal position statements include:
[...]
Sources of further understanding
In addition to the information signposted throughout our website, we’d like to draw your attention to these additional sources of information, topics or fields of study which we feel are helpful in furthering understanding about PDA. This is a living list which we'll add to over time - if [...]
EHCP guide
Education, Health and Care Plans to support a PDA profile of autism.
An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is a document used in England to outline a child or young person’s special educational needs (SEN) and the provision that should be made to meet those needs.
Not every PDA child [...]
What is PDA? booklet
This booklet is designed to be an introductory guide to the Pathological Demand Avoidance profile of autism for individuals, families and professionals.
The booklet covers an overview of PDA, how PDA can feel, an insight into what demands are and how they’re avoided, info about identifying PDA, helpful approaches and [...]
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 [...]
Articles
The most recent PDA articles published in professional publications and on national support websites.
Understanding PDA - Jilly Davis - TeachWire (for education professionals) November 2021. Also available in PDF format here.
BPS Newsletter PDA blog - Dr Sarah Glew and Dr Anita Marsden, clinical psychologists in community paediatrics, [...]
Helpful approaches infographic: PANDA approaches
This infographic illustrates the key approaches which are helpful in working with, understanding and supporting an PDA person.
Conventional support strategies, including those often recommended for autism, are often ineffective and counter-productive with a PDA profile of autism.
In place of structure, routine, firm boundaries, praise, rewards/consequences, is a person-centred approach [...]
Keys to care
A single page information sheet for supporting and helping a PDA person. Ideal for those working with individuals whose care-needs have been identified as relating to demand avoidance. Useful as a grab-sheet for members of staff - a regular reminder of what can help.
Also helpful for family members or [...]
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. Please note that the PDA Development Group no longer meets.
View Summary
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 [...]
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.
Whilst the PDA Development Group of clinical [...]
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 [...]
Evidence for use of PDA terminology
Evidence for Professional Consideration of Demand Avoidance in Autism Assessments
The lack of research into PDA explains why it doesn’t feature in diagnostic manuals, although these manuals do permit for clarifying terminology such as “ASD with a demand avoidant profile”.
The following evidence has been drawn together to demonstrate that, while [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Self-help, coping strategies and therapies for adult PDAers
These suggestions for self-help, coping strategies and therapies were assembled from a variety of first-hand accounts shared by adults, diagnosed or self-identifying as having a PDA profile (PDAers being their preferred term of reference), in books, blogs and on social media and from the other information for adults on [...]
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 [...]
Mind Map for schools
This 'Mind Map' is a useful resource for teachers, and anyone involved in providing support to a young person.
Download PDF
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 [...]
Bill Nason’s PDA insights
Bill Nason is a mental health professional with a masters degree in clinical psychology and more than 30 years of experience in treating individuals with developmental disabilities.
He regularly shares helpful posts relating to PDA on his autism discussion page on Facebook:
Anxiety, Opposition and Demand Avoidance
The Anxiety of [...]