Education
Found 33 listings
Life on an Alien Planet: A PDA boy and his journey through the education system
With useful advice and observations, Katie Stott provides a detailed account of the PDA specific behaviours in her son Fraser and how she learnt to lessen the impact of these by focusing on the cause (anxiety and a need for control), rather than the effect. Katie explains how Fraser’s [...]
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 in Ireland
Mapping Experiences of Pathological Demand Avoidance in Ireland, Executive Summary
Doyle and Kenny 2020
This initial summary reports the findings of the study funded by the Irish Research Council, and conducted by researchers from Dublin City University, Institute of Education, Neil Kenny and Siobhan McNally, and Alison Doyle of Caerus Education.
The [...]
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 [...]
Reasonable adjustments for schools – editable
Whether at primary school or secondary school, this resource can be re-written to suit your own child. Written by a parent who wanted to share it, it is a detailed example of the types of accommodations a school might make.
It is important to read through and decide which parts [...]
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 [...]
Being Misunderstood – 2018 Survey
Experiences of the PDA Profile of ASD
Education, health and social care services are designed to be 'needs-based' and 'outcomes-focused'.
While the intention is clear, there is a group of autistic people whose needs are frequently not identified in detail, not understood in practice and not fully communicated between professionals. As [...]
Education Support and Strategies
In this PDA Society webinar Phil Christie and Ruth Fidler from Autism Associates provide an overview of the education and support needs of children with the PDA profile.
They outline how some of the strategies that are typically found to be effective for autistic children and young people (such as [...]
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 [...]
Child Profiles
Child profiles or ‘one-page profiles’ have been developed as a useful tool particularly for SENCos to use in schools in order to share information about the needs and capabilities of a range of pupils with additional needs across the staff. This can help staff to ensure their practice is [...]
What PDA means to me – editable resource
This resource was created to help a child going from being home-schooled into a special school, but could be used in many other situations. It lists traits like high anxiety, impulsivity and demand avoidance that made life difficult, with specific examples and thoughts on what helps. It also has [...]
Education Support & Advice
Special educational needs charities
IPSEA
SOS SEN
ACE Education Advice
Contact a Family – Education
Enquire (Scotland)
Senac (Northern Ireland)
National Autistic Society – education rights service; – school exclusions service; – transition support service
Schools guides
Good Schools Guide
Gabbitas
National Autistic Society schools
Special Needs Guide
Schools Advice Service
Local authorities have [...]
Blogs by Professionals
Help for Autism and PDA by Dr Judy Eaton -Consultant Clinical Psychologist
Starlight and Stories is a blog written by a special needs teacher. The autism section focuses on supporting children with autism in education and also features several articles specific to the PDA profile.
SmallTalk Speech & Language Therapy - [...]
Collaborative Approaches to Learning for Pupils with PDA
This book distils expert advice on implementing collaborative approaches to learning for supporting pupils with Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome (PDA) at school. Explaining why this approach is so beneficial, it presents key information, advice and resources to help education professionals best support pupils with PDA, and also school staff.
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Understanding Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome in Children
The first book ever written about PDA - it gives a comprehensive overview for everyone with an interest in the subject. It was written collaboratively by professionals and parents.
This straightforward guide offers a complete overview of Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome (PDA) and gives practical advice for overcoming the difficulties [...]
Can I tell you about Pathological Demand Avoidance syndrome?
Can I tell you about Pathological Demand Avoidance syndrome?: A guide for friends, family and professionals
Meet Issy – an 11-year-old girl with pathological demand avoidance syndrome (PDA), a condition on the autism spectrum. Issy invites readers to learn about PDA from her perspective, helping them to understand how simple, [...]
Anger Management
A Practical Guide for Teachers
All schools and many parents have to cope with children and young people who have difficulties managing their anger. This practical guide will:
Increase your understanding of anger
Offer you a range of practical management interventions
Reduce the stress experienced by staff and parents who [...]
Self-Regulating in School
Simple Stuff to Get Kids Self-Regulating in School
Awesome and In Control Lesson Plans, Worksheets, and Strategies for Learning
Packed with photocopiable lesson plans and tried and tested strategies, this illustrated guide is the ideal companion for teachers and therapists wishing to help kindergarten and elementary school children to self-regulate. It [...]
The Explosive Child
A New Approach for Understanding and Parenting Easily Frustrated, Chronically Inflexible Children
A groundbreaking approach to understanding and parenting children who frequently exhibit severe fits of temper and other intractable behaviours, from a distinguished clinician and pioneer in this field.
What’s an explosive child? A child who responds to routine problems [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
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 [...]
CRAE research on exclusion
The Centre for Research on Autism in Education conducted a research project for the NAS into what helped young people who had been excluded to be re-integrated into school. They looked at the work of the ‘Hub’ at the NAS Robert Ogden School in Rotherham.
The work is helpful in [...]
PDA Society Conference 2015
The first PDA Society conference took place on September 23rd 2015 in Northampton. The day was a great success, with 240 delegates attending.
A booklet which includes some commentary and photos from the event, plus the key points from the pre-conference survey can be downloaded within the article.
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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 [...]