Education

Found 72 listings

Helen’s story – PDA in families and deciding to home educate

Helen self-identifies with a PDA profile and sees the same traits in other family members including her daughter and her Mum, with mutual understanding across the generations having led to an instinctively collaborative and compassionate approach to both parenting and education. Passionately believing that our education system is not [...]

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 [...]

Calendar Girl: The memoirs of a PDA child in a dysfunctional family

Calendar Girl is the first of Sally Cat’s planned series of short memoirs which, book by book, will recount her entire childhood with the aid of her rare photographic, calendar memory. This first book, covering the author’s first eight years, includes crystal clear memories of babyhood, toddlerhood and young childhood [...]

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 [...]

Helping Your Child with PDA Live a Happier Life

Drawing on the author's personal experience of parenting a child with PDA, this insightful and informative guide offers strategies and tips for all aspects of daily life, including sensory issues, education and negotiation. Full of information and support, this book is not intended to provide information on how to change [...]

PDA & school avoidance podcast with James

15 year old James shares his thoughts on why school is difficult for young people with a PDA profile. He openly talks about his experience of school and the daily challenges around demands, masking, sensory difficulties, school avoidance, friendships and transitions. He also offers some possible solutions and tips [...]

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 [...]

Declarative Language Handbook

Declarative Language Handbook: Using a Thoughtful Language Style to Help Kids with Social Learning Challenges Feel Competent, Connected, and Understood. This book was written to teach you how making small shifts in your language and speaking style will produce important results. You will stop telling kids what to do and [...]

The Teacher’s Introduction to Pathological Demand Avoidance

Essential Strategies for the Classroom. This essential guide for working with PDA pupils outlines effective and practical ways that teachers and school staff can support these pupils, by endorsing a child-led approach to learning and assessment. Beginning with an introduction to PDA and how it can affect the education experience, it [...]

PDA best practice – the professional voice

PDA best practice - what the professionals would like you to know Professionals from a range of backgrounds explain why they feel it's important to identify PDA and share their tips for best practice. This is one of two resources created for PDA Day 2021 that share best practice about PDA [...]

PDA best practice – the PDA community’s voice

PDA best practice - what the PDA community would like professionals to know This is one of two resources created for PDA Day 2021 that share best practice about PDA for professionals from all sectors – including healthcare, education, social care, the law, therapists, counsellors, advocates and policy makers. This video [...]

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: [...]

Introduction to PDA (2021)

An introductory video about PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance). This video is just over 20 minutes long and covers lots of information, including: What is demand avoidance? PDA & Autism Key features of a PDA profile Research & clinical themes Why identify PDA? How PDA can feel What are demands? Demand [...]

What is PDA? video

This short video gives a quick introduction to PDA and was created to help raise awareness of PDA with the general public and convey some essential information about PDA in a quick and easily shareable format. Voiced by PDAers and PDA Society team members. Available to watch and share below or [...]

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 [...]

Mapping educational experiences

Mapping the educational experiences of children with pathological demand avoidance This paper describes a study carried out to review the educational experiences of children with Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA).  It would be of interest to those who work in the field of education and to parents who are navigating their [...]