In this course, AsIAm, Ireland’s Autism Charity is delighted to support our community to understand PDA – Pathological Demand Avoidance. The information presented on PDA in this Prepare Me AsIAm program is based on an interpretation of the current available research together with the professional clinical experience of our therapeutic presenters.

Throughout the PDA program you will hear from Dr Rachel O Connor, Clinical Psychologist, who will support you to understand what is PDA and what it is not. She will support you to consider whether your child may have a PDA profile and finally she will offer strategies of support to help you empower your PDA child but also strategies to support you as parent of a PDA child. Psychotherapist Hayley Rice supports you to understand Anxiety and how you can empower your child.

Julie Holmes SLT will help you to understand communication strategies that are neuroaffirmative when supporting a PDA child. She will explain what is Declarative Language and how you can use language to support you and your PDA child. Occupational Therapist Aideen Routledge will speak to you about sensory processing, regulation and Neuroception.

Prepare Me Manager Amanda McGuinness will give a lived experience parental account of raising a PDA children and she will provide an overview of the lived experience of parents interviewed as part of the PDA program.

Finally, you will hear from the lived experience of an Autistic adult, wherein they recount what it was like for them attending school, the judgements they have faced and their hopes for the future with regard to the understanding of PDA that now exists.

“Kids do well if they can.” - Dr Ross Greene