Parents/Carers
Found 27 listings
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 [...]
Understand Me
Understand Me: An inspiring journey of a boy with PDA
9 year old Spencer recalls his struggles at mainstream school and takes us on a journey of his experiences whilst going through diagnosis and the EHCP process to a successful specialist placement. Spencer’s feelings of isolation and sadness, and his [...]
National Autistic Society PDA resources
Here are links to the National Autistic Society's PDA resources:
What is pathological demand avoidance (PDA)?
Supporting pupils with a demand avoidant profile
The National Autistic Society provides useful information to help everyone understand anxiety in school and school refusal – though please note that the strategies suggested would [...]
PDA tools and resources – tes online
The following PDA-related resources are available to purchase or download for free from www.tes.com ...
Managing Demand Avoidance Toolkit
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The Demand Avoidance Toolkit, is an adapted framework of collaborative approaches used in education to teach pupils with PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance). This pack works alongside the Zones of Regulation [...]
Articles
The most recent PDA articles published in professional publications and on national support websites.
Providing PDA support - Aileen Hosty - nasen Connect www.nasen.org.uk (shared with kind permission) May 2020
Understanding PDA – Ruth Fidler & Libby Hill - The Link (speech and language magazine for schools) January 2020
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Keys to care
A single page help sheet for supporting and helping someone with a PDA profile. 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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Saturdays at Noon
This debut novel by the parent of a PDA child is told from the point of view of the three main characters, Emily, Jake and six-year-old Alfie. PDA is woven into the storyline with relatable situations reflective of real life.
Author: Rachel Marks
Publisher: Penguin
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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 [...]
Support for parents & carers
This page signposts some sources of useful information, support and advice regarding health, social care, justice, benefits and more.
The PDA Society takes considerable care to check the services that we signpost, however we’re not responsible for the quality, experience or outcomes from third party organisations. We’re currently developing an [...]
Me and My PDA
Me and My PDA: A Guide to Pathological Demand Avoidance for Young People
This beautifully illustrated guide helps young people with Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) to understand their diagnosis, develop self-awareness and implement their own personalised problem-solving strategies. Written in consultation with young people with PDA and their families, this [...]
Understanding Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome in Children
A Guide for Parents, Teachers and Other Professionals
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 [...]
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, [...]
Can You See Me?
With diary entries written by eleven-year-old Libby Scott, based on her own experiences of autism with a demand avoidant profile, this pioneering book, written in collaboration with esteemed author Rebecca Westcott, has been widely praised for its realistic portrayal of autism.
Tally is eleven years old and she's just like [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
The Incredible 5-Point Scale
This much-awaited second edition of the popular Incredible 5-Point Scale is significantly improved and expanded.
Using the same practical and user-friendly format as the first edition, Buron and Curtis let readers benefit from work done with the scales over the past 10 years, to result in refinements to the original [...]
Mental Health Issues in Girls
A Guide to Mental Health Issues in Girls and Young Women on the Autism Spectrum: Diagnosis, Intervention and Family Support
This book addresses the specific mental health needs of girls and young women with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Looking at the ways autism presents differently in girls than in boys, [...]
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 [...]
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:
Love PDA 'Demand Detox'. Removing all demands for child with Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome
Steph's Two Girls Strategies for PDA
PDA Parenting Against [...]
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 [...]
Hertfordshire families
A survey of 38 families in Hertfordshire showed that many felt desperate and a majority described how local services had not helped them. These results were published with a call to action, with the support of local Autism charities, and taken to the Herts All-Age Autism Partnership Board with [...]
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.
Published: 2015
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Behavioural Strategies: advice sheet
The information sheet from Autism West Midlands provides some behavioural strategies to support individuals. It starts by outlining the key characteristics before looking at issues, including allowing the option of saying no and sharing responsibilities. It includes lots of examples of ways to change your language to minimise the [...]