It’s the last few days of school term.
How can we ‘keep the peace’ in our classrooms for a few more days?
Let’s dig deep!
In last weeks post I was writing about Pathological Demand avoidance (PDA) and I have had a lot of interesting comments and messages as a result. It appears that this was also something new for many people, so I would like to talk about it some more. I think what interested my followers was the need for a different approach when working with PDA students.
My followers recognised the value in the use of indirect demands and empathetic responses which can act to de-escalate situations. They could understand the importance of striving to instil calm. The greatest realisation was that when our students are exhibiting signs of resistance and avoidance it is not acceptable for us to respond to this as purely manipulation.
We need to understand that as individuals we all have a basic need to have some control over what happens to us. We also need to understand that need in our students. So, our job is to help them navigate perceived difficult situations, give them opportunities to experience choice and to avoid unnecessary confrontation.
The building of positive relationships will enable us to begin to predict and recognise possible triggers for challenging behaviour. If we are in a position to recognise early signs of our student losing control then we can react by tailoring our response differently from traditional methods. This can facilitate success for our students by empowering them but this is not a small task. Here is some advice to help your students in these last few days https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/6-ways-help-keep-students-calm-christmas-sheila-mulvenney/
If you would like to hear some real life experiences with PDA I recommend that you have a look at this website https://www.stephstwogirls.co.uk/ where Steph shares her wealth of experience in an easy, accessible way. Join her in promoting the understanding of PDA from books and diet to everything in between.
Whatever you do, wherever you go, have a wonderful winter break!
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