A glass of wine in the sun on the terrace and reading about Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) what could be better?
In a previous blog post, I introduced PDA as something I had come across in my search to find strategies to help one of the students in my care. I came across an article which resonated with me and as a result, I decided to search further and this is when I came across a wonderfully written book about PDA:
“Collaborative approaches to Learning For Pupils With PDA; Strategies for Education Professionals”. This book by Ruth Fidler and Phil Christie provides a comprehensive overview of this autistic spectrum strand. Their book is clearly set out with the goal of enabling educational professionals to create and implement strategies while adapting environments to support students exhibiting PDA.
The title of my previous blog post was “Is it Can’t or Won’t” which was a reflection of my experience of adult reactions to challenging behaviour in students. The idea behind my post was how a students’ challenging behaviour was being interpreted as wilful and disobedient when in reality they were responding to stress in the only way they knew how.
A student who exhibits a PDA profile responds to instructions in class with a balance of tolerance with respect to the demands placed upon them. If they are feeling anxious then their tolerance will be low and their response to demands will be limited. Therefore it is our job as educators to ensure that we adjust the demands placed on those students to reflect their anxiety level at any given time. We need to acknowledge and understand the role that we play in raising or lowering the anxiety in our students. This reminds me of the work of Professor Andy McDonnell and his “Low Arousal Approach”.
According to Fidler and Christie (2019), PDA is “best understood as an anxiety-driven need to be in control and avoid other people’s demands and expectations”. This is illustrated through the personal account of a student diagnosed with PDA where he describes the relationship between “functional capacity” and “functional capability”. He acknowledges that at times he has the capability to carry out the teacher given tasks requested of him but that he at times does not have the capacity to do this. This highlights for me the need for educators to ask themselves,
how can we help?
It is recognised that strategies normally employed while working with students who exhibit autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are much less effective for students who exhibit PDA. A more flexible and less direct approach to intervention is required. This is where the approach of Fidler and Christie of “Collaborative Approach” where they champion the building of “self-awareness and emotional resilience” allowing students to understand and ultimately regulate emotions and their own levels of anxiety. The authors promote the idea of “synchronising adult’s expectations with a child’s tolerance” to enable success in the classroom.
If you would like to learn more about PDA I recommend that you get your hands on this book, pour a glass of wine and start to read.
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