PDA - pathological demand avoidance

[SarahEvelyn]

Reaching out to anyone that has ever heard of PDA as a profile on the autism spectrum. I would love to get in touch with brothers or sisters who have a child with PDA or who have PDA themselves. 

[trottigy]

I have not heard of that. But you are posted in the right forum now.

 

 

 

Edited 16 hours ago by trottigy

[Tortuga]

I have not heard of it. Thanks for asking.

 

Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is a proposed disorder and a sub-type of autism spectrum disorder1. It is characterized by:
Greater-than-typical refusal to comply with requests or expectations.
Extreme efforts to avoid social demands.
Avoidance of routine activities and highly desired activities.
High anxiety leading to avoidance of everyday demands.
Fight, flight, or freeze reaction when confronted with challenging demands.

Edited 16 hours ago by Tortuga

[SarahEvelyn]

That is a very brief summary, yes. It is an extremely challenging disorder with a huge impact on the daily life for the individual but also for the whole family.
My 11yo son has PDA and I would love to meet other witnesses who can relate. 
Because the disorder is so difficult to understand for people who have not lived with it, parents often get blamed or misunderstood. It would be nice to be able to share with someone that can relate experiences, things that have helped, what accommodations you make for meetings, service, family worship … .