Behaviour
An Introduction to PDA or Demand Avoidance. A Parent and Carers’ Guide
Find out why a child with PDA resists even the things they enjoy, and how to lower the pressure so home feels safe again.
- 31 minutes
- 8 modules
- Certificate
Members
Parent membership: all 50 courses for parents and carers, £40 a year or £4 a month after 14 days free.
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What you'll learn
- Recognise the anxiety behind your child's demand avoidance, even when it's masked
- Judge your child's tolerance each day and raise or lower demands to match
- Swap direct requests for indirect, shared language like "shall we...?"
- Stay calm and quiet alongside a child in shutdown or meltdown
- Decide which everyday expectations really matter and let the rest go
About this course
If you've spent years on reward charts, visual timetables and firm routines, only to watch your child refuse, hide or explode, you may be looking at PDA, or pathological demand avoidance. It's an autism profile driven by high anxiety, and any demand can set it off, even one a child puts on themselves.
You'll learn to read your child's tolerance from one day to the next, and to take the pressure off the school-morning rush. Requests become invitations, so "your toothbrush is loaded" replaces "brush your teeth". And when your child shuts down, you'll know to stay close, stay calm and say very little.
The advice comes from a parent who has lived it. You'll also work out which family rules really matter, like everyone sitting at the table for tea, and which ones you can let go.
8 modules
Open in order
- 5 min
Introduction
- 5 min
‘The light bulb moment’
- 5 min
Anxiety
- 5 min
Tolerance levels
- 4 min
Approaches
- 4 min
Relationships
- 4 min
Perspectives
- 3 min
Wrap up