Anyone in education supporting a child with PDA?

[Sometimeswinning]

Have been working the last year with a child who has been diagnosed PDA. Took me a while but I’ve finally got it and seen so many improvements. Anyone in education in the same boat?

Share your tips!

@Sometimeswinning share your tips and very well done you!
It's quite rare to find school teachers or support staff who really get it.
You will make a lifetime of difference to that child. Biggest gold star

Main tip is recognising it as an actual LD. Just because child A behaves well for a lovely lesson does not mean they are making a choice. It means they are not triggered with an expectation.

They will not grow up to become a narcissist or abusive because they will learn to regulate. They will do it sooner with adult support.

So how do you support a child when they are presented with an expectation such as Maths worksheet or a writing task?

I give them a book of maths. They can pick and choose what they want to do. It is a book you can put together yourself from online worksheets or a book I’ve got for mine from the Works.

Are the tasks linked to the objective of the lesson? What about writing?

Not always no. It doesn’t need to be. Age appropriate for my child works well. A topic we’ve covered. Something they can do and achieve. There is no expectation of the amount of work either. It could be one page. It could be one question. That’s maths!

My Child loves writing. She can be engaged in a lesson easily. Sometimes she’ll swap it to write random names on a piece of paper to be fair.

Following as I expect to have a child in my class with a pda profile next session.

I have a child with PDA. She's very relationship focused. With her, she'd probably do the work for you if she liked you. She likes it when teachers tell stories about their life.

There is a specific book on this which I'll post a link to in a minute. Not all of it's practical for a mainstream classroom, but some is.

amzn.eu/d/08Iw7Vin

Thankyou! Always appreciate a recommendation.

What would you suggest for a child who doesn’t like writing?

Do they have access to use a Chromebook? Do they not like writing because they struggle with it?

If it’s just an overall control thing give them the option of how much to write. Let them negotiate less with you so they have the win. Or they tell you their ideas, you write it down and they copy.

They do find it challenging and also get hung up if they feel they fall behind or can’t spell a word.

I couldn’t work 1:1 with them in class as I’ve got 31 others with differing needs.

My child has an ehcp so I could argue that they get more attention than some others in my class. Also you need to weigh up if the result of a meltdown is more disruptive to the 31 others.

At the beginning of the term I was juggling everyone. Her behaviour needed the most attention as it included classroom being destroyed, attacking (mainly me) with items, the aggression and words used scared others.

By encouraging her to regulate herself and work independently, it now frees me up to do so much more than I was able to do before.

Its so lovely to read the second paragraph. One of my sons had demand avoidance behaviours and was really challenging. I was scared for the future and there was a lot of 'he will be this or that negative thing when he is older' but the reality is with the right adult support (plus OT and SaLT) he is now well regulated. He has other challenges but hr isnt narcissistic or abusive.

Have you tried them writing on a whiteboard? My PDA child is also hypermobile. She had those triangular pen grips at primary. At 13 she writes quite well. In between she used a Chrome book then a cheap tablet from Curry's with a wireless keyboard.

I am always being told if you don’t challenge them they are going to think they can get out of doing everything their whole life.

No. To be in class they need to know how to regulate. Once they do that they will spend longer in class and less time screaming shouting, throwing furniture. They will mature. Want to be part of a class with their peers.

I hear a lot of negatives for my approach so thankyou for your comment.

Yep me… also he has trauma too so is a complicated chap.
It’s so, so tricky.
Learning not to praise was a big one for me as it’s so instinctive but he would feel that as a demand that every piece of work is like that/ that many questions need doing or whatever. Choice can work but can also be perceived as a demand.
I made him a box of choices some linked to learning, some not.
My one and only stand alone rule for him is around stopping others from learning.
HT didn’t like me not expecting him to complete work - then he covered me one day and had to evacuate the room.
Just being in the room is a demand - I have a part time TA and nearly half of my class are either EHCP or SEN plan.
Its been a tough year.

Ah are you in my class? My Senco is forever give them work. Get them in class. They’re bored. They need the input. I did ask her to model what that looked like but I’m still waiting. So I’ve carried on my way.

Same rule. If she’s disruptive, we leave. We’re at the point now that I point to the door and we go! I remember I use to have to trick her by saying you can’t leave the class, you can guess her reaction to that!

Do you work 1:1 or is the child part of a class?

How do you deal with others wanting to do what he has chosen to do? This is what I find hard. I can make it work in reception, but find it harder in other year groups.

I have around 7 children with EHCPs so all are part of a class. PDA child is my first port of call due to how much disruption to learning there is when they are not regulated.

My pda dd (asd diagnosed aged 2) had teachers suggesting this approach, I didn’t approve as life won’t make allowances for her not completing tasks she doesn’t like. I forced her to school and they found a way for her to work independently by secondary school, was better for her, but full curriculum, she didn’t get to skip bits. I m certainly a tough parent but I was given good advice 25 years ago and stuck to it, i think the more you allow deviation from the class the more they demand. My dd has 2 degrees now, a job not so much but she’s happy at least and around 18 learned to modify her behaviour