"Is my child Autistic with Demand Avoidance OR is my child PDA?"

This is a question I get often from parents, so this is a free training to help you discern the answer that question for yourself. We will cover:

• Figuring out which "lens" is most helpful to support your unique child and the root cause of the behaviors you observe.
• Understanding that it is not an "either/or" or binary situation where PDA kids don't have social communication differences or that non-PDA autistic children and teens don't need autonomy and have sensitive nervous systems.
• Patterns I have observed that help you distinguish for yourself whether your child is PDA.
• Patterns I have observed among the 100s of parents I work with whose children or teens are indeed PDA.
• An invitation to take an experimental approach and collect data on *your* unique child.

I hope it serves you!

To connect with me, find me here:

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Facebook

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For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,

Casey

In this episode, I answer this very commonly asked question: What is the difference between PDA and trauma?

As part of my answer, I discuss five things:

1. Why there is so much confusion between PDA and trauma.

2. Why there are different root causes behind similar nervous system activation.

3. Where there are points of overlap between PDA and trauma.

4. Different approaches to supporting them.
 
5. What we don't know yet about healing vs. accommodating a neurotype vs. neuroplasticity and where your child will land.

Citations:

"What Happened to You: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing," by Bruce Perry, MD, Ph.D. and Oprah Winfrey

"The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel van der Kolk

"Harnessing Electrochemicals to Treat Disorders Arising from Traumatic Stress" by Ronald Ruden (2019: 223)

To connect with me, find me here:

Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube

For more resources for parents, including #actuallyautistic pages to check out and a list of PDA-affirming practitioners in North America, check out the resources page at PDA Parents.

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,
Casey

This episode is an excerpt from the "Progress with PDA" workshop and is a way of looking at progress, even when you feel your most stuck as a parent.

This perspective is the "yin" side to the "yang" of tracking data and indicators of progress that you observe of your PDA child or teen as they move out of burnout and towards more well-being. 

I hope the episode serves you. 

To connect with me, find me here:

Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube

For more resources for parents, including #actuallyautistic pages to check out and a list of PDA-affirming practitioners in North America, check out the resources page at PDA Parents.

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,
Casey

In this episode, I answer the question: "What do I do when my PDA child or teen really wants to do something - see friends, play a sport, engage in an activity - but there is a big fallout afterwards?"

To connect with me, find me here:

Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube

For more resources for parents, including #actuallyautistic pages to check out and a list of PDA-affirming practitioners in North America, check out the resources page at PDA Parents.

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,
Casey

In this episode, Casey shares the logic behind why sticker charts, laminated schedules, strict routines, and many of the supports used with children who have social communication differences and executive functioning differences actually backfire with PDA kids and young adults. 

To connect with me, find me here:

Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube

For more resources for parents, including #actuallyautistic pages to check out and a list of PDA-affirming practitioners in North America, check out the resources page at PDA Parents.

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,
Casey

In this episode, Casey shares her story from the perspective of a parent as she experienced the time leading up to her son's burnout (3.5 years old), her son's burnout (5.5 years old), and the current moment (8.5 years old).
 
 She ends with a spiritual insight from Buddhism about not shooting oneself with the "second arrow" when things are hard.

To connect with me, find me here:

Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube

For more resources for parents, including #actuallyautistic pages to check out and a list of PDA-affirming practitioners in North America, check out the resources page at PDA Parents.

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,
Casey

In this episode, I share an excerpt from the Paradigm Shift Program session that focused on Marriage, Co-Parenting, and Communication dynamics while raising a Pathologically Demand Avoidant (PDA) child or teen. I share my personal story, how raising a PDA child has impacted my marriage and share one fundamental insight about being the "lead" parent vs. the parent who is doing less of the caregiving.

This is a great episode to listen to with your partner to help you get on the same page and realize you are not alone in navigating these dynamics!

Citations:

Understanding Pathological Demand Avoidance Syndrome in Children

The Tilt Parenting Podcast Episode with Harry Thompson (Episode 109) has been removed from the website because of allegations against Harry, so I can't link to it as a citation. 

Atlantic Article "Why Women Still Can't Have it All" - the concept of "lead parenting" is named in the writing. 

To connect with me, find me here:

Instagram

TikTok

Facebook

YouTube

For more resources for parents, including #actuallyautistic pages to check out and a list of PDA-affirming practitioners in North America, check out the resources page at PDA Parents.

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,

Casey

In this episode, I outline the ways in which the description of Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM)-5 overlaps with some of the surface-level indicators of Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) or "Pervasive Drive for Autonomy."

Although there are many things that look the same on the surface, if we dig deeper to discover the root cause of your child's behavior, you may realize that Oppositional Defiant Disorder isn't really an explanatory diagnostic category, while Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is.

I also outline the five things that an Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) diagnosis doesn't explain:

• Internalized expressions of PDA (e.g. freeze/fawn)
• Trouble accessing basic needs (e.g. toileting indepedently, safety, eating, sleeping, or hygiene)
• Sensory Differences
• Social Communication Differences
• Need for constant undivided attention/coregulation

Citations:
"High Masking" term by Rachel Dorsey, Autistic SLP

TILT Parenting Podcast Reference: Episode 154: Dr. Mona Delahooke on Looking Beyond Children's Challenging Behavior

Beyond Behaviors by Mona Delahooke

Body-Brain Parenting by Mona Delahooke

To connect with me, find me here:

Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube

For more resources for parents, including #actuallyautistic pages to check out and a list of PDA-affirming practitioners in North America, check out the resources page at PDA Parents.

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,
Casey

In this episode we explore identifying with a particular neurotype - whether it is Pathologically Demand Avoidant (PDA), Autistic, Neurotypical, ADHD, or none at all- and the choices we have for ourselves and for our children.

At the core, we discuss how autonomy is incorporated into the process of your child choosing an identity, and separating that from medical diagnosis and the nervous system mechanisms that lead to fight/flight/freeze.

Hope you enjoy!

To connect with me, find me here:

Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube

For more resources for parents, including #actuallyautistic pages to check out and a list of PDA-affirming practitioners in North America, check out the resources page at PDA Parents.

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,
Casey

Why is Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) so hard to understand as a parent and for therapists, pediatricians, teachers, and people looking in on your child's life?

In this episode, I answer the following questions: 

• How do I know whether it is "defiance" or typical kid behavior or Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)?
• How do I know whether it is Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD), Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD), or ADHD? 
• Can a PDA child appear totally typical at school or with a grandparent, but not at home?
• What if my child is not "explosive" - can they still be pathologically demand avoidant? (PDA) 

Citation:

"Beyond Behaviors: Using Compassion and Brain Science to Understand and Solve Children's Challenging Behaviors" by Dr. Mona Delahooke

To connect with me, find me here:

Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube

For more resources for parents, including #actuallyautistic pages to check out and a list of PDA-affirming practitioners in North America, check out the resources page at PDA Parents.

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,
Casey