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No two people are the same. Diagnoses are 'best fit' or 'what is available' sometimes and there is a risk of over assumption that they will respond to the strategies that worked with someone else with the same diagnosis. PDA strategies tend to work well with all children regardless of diagnoses but with the caveat of sometimes! You might be interested in my article about the spectrum nature of all diagnoses which suggests a more over lapping nature to diagnoses than often is portrayed. Available at: happylearners.info/diagnoses/diagnoses-spectrum.html

Hi Louise, thanks for your comment. There is a social story about swearing on the website at happylearners.info/social-stories/swearing.html but not throwing things. I will work on this next week. Are you wanting a video version?

Have added two social stories about throwing things to the website at happylearners.info/social-stories/throwing-things.html

Yes please about the swearing and the throwing things as well. Thank you

@@louisenewman3925 The swearing video is now online. Available at czcams.com/video/jauW-ExdcOg/video.html

Thanks for your question. The short answer is probably no. The diagnosis of PDA would describe someone who is universally presenting with PDA behaviours across different settings. So a girl should struggle with compliance in school settings. That would be the official answer however as all pervasive development disorders are determined by a specific presentation of behaviours that can be observed there is always a cut off point for diagnosis. Thus you are either PDA or you are not. But this then leaves those that nearly fit the diagnosis, those that still present with many of the behaviours but not all or not always or not in all settings. How do we label these individuals and is that even desirable? So my longer answer is that people can present at times with a set of behaviours that would fit a particular diagnosis and this might be helpful in understanding the behaviour and identifying potential strategies to support them. However, if it is not pervasive it is probably not helpful or useful to place them within that label. That said it doesn't diminish the difficulty for parents in managing a teen or any other aged child with PDA or ODD type behaviours. My last point about PDA is that normal strategies don't tend to work but PDA strategies often work for PDA and all other conditions so it probably worth having a look at these on the website. Come back to me if you have any follow up comments or questions. Stephen

Hi, thanks for the comment. Getting a PDA child to do things they don't want to is very challenging. It is far easier to let them pursue their own agenda. Thus if your child wanted to go into nursery this would not be a problem. Establishing why they do not want to go in should be a priority assuming they have good verbal skills to articulate how they feel. Liaising with the nursery to establish a positive handover with perhaps an emphasis on doing an activity of their choice when they arrive might help. Remember PDA children often respond to a 'higher authority' so having written down rules about going to nursery might also help. See the website page about PDA strategies for other things to try. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the comment. In my experience it can be very hard to trick a PDA child as they are very alert to deception. However, distracting the child's attention away from the demand can be an effective way of gaining compliance. Of course motivating a child with their interests is ideal but there are times when the task that is needed cannot be put in to a context that is intrinsically motivating. Normal life is full of things we might prefer not to do and avoiding them is desirable. This is a challenge to overcome for all people and a particular difficulty for those with anxiety over complying with demands.

@@HappyLearnersInfoi'm not religious but the "golden rule" was massive for me.

Hi Kelsey, thank you for your comment. I imagine that it can be very challenging having your daughter at work with you. If you need any further specific advice use the Happy Learners email and I'll be glad to try and support you further.

Thanks for the request. I have put a pdf print out of this up on the website. You can find it at: happylearners.info/diagnoses/pda. You'll need to scroll down to resources - PDA and school - printable version.

@@HappyLearnersInfo thankyou so much - now to start on the journey for our son !

@@ttt-jp2ej Good luck with your son. Let me know if there is anything else that I can do to help.

Sorry for the delay getting back to you. The PDA Assessment Matrix is available at: happylearners.info/assessmentschool.html

You are completely right and this makes them incredibly challenging to work with. If you don't use the right strategies with these children you come up against an impenetrable wall of defiance. Even with proven strategies they remain volatile and it takes a good measure of both patience and flexibility in order to move forward with adult directed learning.

@@HappyLearnersInfoI feel like this was sounding to simplistic, it’s a constant balancing act for whoever gets the job of the “safe care giver “. Or trusted adult .,

@@lanni8224 I completely agree with you. Individuals with PDA are more nuanced than any presentation can hope to explain. Strategies can make a big difference to how much adult directed learning is achievable but it can still be a very small percentage of the individual's time that you can direct.

I got HFA instead of aspergers, I could immagine that i'm not stereotypical asperger enough for a proper diagnosis. was denied an asperger diagnosis in the past as well, despite filling a large amount of autism like criteria... Feels like autism treatment in my case either focuses on non-issues or I respond poorly to some stuff, lots of people recommend schedules which I really hate cause it makes me feel miserable. The criteria of this one seems to contradict some autism/asperger stereotypes despise possibly being autism related. some asperger traits fit well on me while others doesn't suit me at all, i think it's still autism related though. I'm very avoidant of some sort, kind of avoiding common questions about me, what i think or where i work. it's a bit frustrating at times. Teachers in school was constantly complaining about me not being there, not hanging out with classmates or not eating. I had a severe absence but somehow got decent grades. I feel like I really don't do things unless I have too.

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The reptilian brain is concerned with basic survival and looks after our heart rate, breathing, digestion, monitors and responds to environmental needs and threats. This part of brain also controls what might be described as instinctive behaviour and likes routines and rituals. Anxiety, fear and other stresses can allow this part to shut down the other parts of the brain. I have an article which explains a little more about the brain. It is available at happylearners.info/learningdevelopmentunderstandingbrain.html