Understanding PDA: For Kids & Grown Ups {Book review}

Understanding PDA: For Kids & Grown Ups is another new addition to my ever-growing list of great books that have been published on the topic of Pathological Demand Avoidance. Written and illustrated by the Freeman family, this book is intended to help anyone and everyone understand more about the PDA profile of autism.

The story is written from the viewpoint of a young boy called Ethan. He has been diagnosed with Pathological Demand Avoidance and he wants to try to explain what that means, and how it affects his ability to handle demands and expectations, although he acknowledges it can be difficult to put into words.

These are the opening pages to the book:

My name is Ethan, and I have been diagnosed with something called Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA), which is a profile of autism. PDA can make it hard for me to handle certain things... like demands or expectations.

I'm told it's normal for people to 'resist' doing things at times, and know that there are lots of reasons hy people might struggle with demand avoidance. For example, somebody might avoid going to a concert if they dislike crowds and noise. That makes sense.

But with PDA, it's different. Typically, there isn't a rational reason why I can't do something. Demands can feel very threatening, so even if I want to do something, I won't always be able to.

The book looks simple and is indeed very easy to read, but one of the brilliant selling points is that it covers some of the complex aspects of PDA in an easily accessible format. The illustrations are bright and colourful and it is easy to understand what is going on in them.

Examples of different situations acknowledge some of the issues around different environments as well as how PDA children and their parents might be perceived by others who don't fully understand. The difficulties this might bring to family relationships is touched upon, and the idea that not all PDAers exhibit explosive behaviour is also covered. 

This book could support parents to prompt conversation at home about everyday family life and what the challenges faced might be. Some suggestions of what may help other families are included. It could also help children to realise the reasons for their behaviour and understand themselves better, leading to them not feeling so alone. A great book to pass on to other family members who may need some help understanding why, and how to help.

Available now from Amazon - Understanding PDA: For Kids & Grown Ups.*

(* This and the pictures in this post are affiliate links; as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases but it won't cost you any extra!)