Strategies
Found 28 listings
Super Shamlal – Living and Learning with Pathological Demand Avoidance
This illustrated storybook is aimed at children aged 7-11 to help them recognise the features of PDA, and develop tools to support them. A helpful introduction for parents and carers explains how it feels to live with PDA, and the appendices at the back provide useful strategies to be [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Child Behaviour & Parenting Strategies
The Child Behaviour and Parenting Strategies study was designed to investigate links between child behaviour and parenting strategies, as well as many other factors, with a particular focus on children with developmental disabilities such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
This is an update on preliminary findings from the study, which [...]
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 [...]
Demand Avoidance of the PDA Kind
This video was created to help raise awareness of how the PDA profile of autism can present, combining experiences kindly shared by children, young people and adults.
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 [...]
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, [...]
PDA by PDAers
PDA by PDAers: From Anxiety to Avoidance and Masking to Meltdowns
This book is a collection of genuine insights and experiences from people living with PDA, adapted from their interactions on a popular online support group. It includes frank discussions of topics relevant to PDA, including work, relationships and managing [...]
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 [...]
Food Refusal and Avoidant Eating
Food Refusal and Avoidant Eating in Children, including those with Autism Spectrum Conditions
A Practical Guide for Parents and Professionals
Many children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) have a restricted dietary range, and this book provides parents with advice and training on how to deal with this condition and achieve [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Keys to care
A single page help sheet for managing 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 [...]
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 [...]