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Enabling education staff to support children with PDA

We all experience demand avoidance to some degree. At times you may find yourself unable to do certain tasks either for yourself or other people. Autistic people may avoid demands that:

• trigger anxiety, sensory overwhelm or distress
• disrupt their routines
• involve transitions, such as moving between tasks or environments
• or when they have no interest in a task/activity.

One type of demand avoidance that autistic people and their parent carers want to highlight is pathological demand avoidance (PDA). This type of demand avoidance occurs in response to ‘demands in general’ and therefore can seem irrational or naughty to others. PDA is a profile of autism that some autistic people experience. It may or may not be identified during an autism diagnosis. It is important to remember that PDA is real, it is not naughty behaviour, and it can severely impact someone's life.

To help education staff learn about PDA, the All-Age Autism Strategy worked with autistic people, parent carers, and other experts from health and education settings to create free training. The training teaches staff how to support autistic pupils with a PDA profile and their families in education settings. So far, 337 education staff from 171 different settings have attended. Attendees shared positive feedback:

Where can I learn more about Pathological Demand Avoidance?

If you are interested in finding out more about Pathological Demand Avoidance, visit .