Supporting The Child With PDA In The Classroom

15/01/2017 by Dr Judy Eaton Autism, Blog, Clinician related, Parenting related, PDA, Teaching related 1 comment

Last updated: 25th October 2024

Previous blog articles have touched upon the challenges faced by parents whose children either find it impossible to attend school, or those where their children ‘mask’ or hide their difficulties in the classroom. In the course of assessments and therapy with families, many parents have reported feeling blamed and judged when it appears that whatever they seem to try with their children does not work, whereas at school they perhaps behave like the model child.

For many Autistic children though, this is far from the case. For some parents, that feeling of dread when they receive the phone call from school ,or the teacher comes to find them at the school gate to talk about their child’s behaviour, is all too frequent. It impacts upon their self-esteem, their confidence as parents and ultimately on their ability to hold down a job – how many employers are able to be sympathetic and that flexible?

A high number Autistic children, particularly those with the PDA profile, will be temporarily (and sometimes permanently) excluded from school. To be fair, if the child is so distressed that they are putting themselves, or others, in danger as a result of their behaviour, this is probably the only option schools have.

However, all behaviour is a form of communication. Autistic children who are throwing furniture around or hitting their teachers and peers are not ‘naughty’, they are distressed. They often do not have the words to express how they are feeling, or the social imagination to predict the consequences of what they are doing.

Everyday demands are often unbearable and they can quickly escalate into full ‘meltdown’

School staff often feel at a loss to know what to do for the best. Autistic children often struggle with change and find a change of routine, or teacher, unbearably anxiety-provoking, but with the support of visual timetables and clear structure, many can cope. Those who appear to experience the greatest difficulty are those children with the PDA profile. Everyday demands are often unbearable and they can quickly escalate into full ‘meltdown’. This can include screaming, punching, kicking and biting or running out of the class. Some children might need to be restrained for their own safety which is distressing for both the child and the staff, who even if they have received appropriate training, often feel uncomfortable.

The following strategies may help some of these children to succeed at school. They are taken partly from the National Autism Standards, ‘The Distinctive Clinical and Educational Needs of Children with Pathological Demand Avoidance: Guidelines for Good Practice’, produced by Phil Christie, who was formerly the Director of Children’s Services at the Elizabeth Newson Centre in Nottinghamshire, and partly from advice and guidance from the staff at the Robert Ogden School, a National Autistic Society School in Doncaster who have experienced good outcomes with children with the PDA profile.

Children with a demand avoidant profile tend to under-perform in terms of their potential, due to their anxiety and need for control. Key issues for any school will be how best to create an environment where they feel comfortable, can be kept on task, and disrupt the other children as little as possible. This can be tricky as the type of environment and management they need may not be a typical classroom environment for many. By making changes, it may feel that these children are ‘getting their own way’ and being given privileges the other children are not. Simply, trying to make them comply is unlikely to work – schools have to work to find a balance and this is often a challenge. Help for Psychology is planning to develop a range of CPD accredited courses in 2022/23 for teachers and other professionals, as we are well aware of how hard it can be to accommodate the needs of a very distressed and anxious child. (Full details of our training courses will be on our website soon).

Guidance states that teachers need to be ‘flexible and adaptable’. Children with the PDA profile can find direct instructions and demands difficult. Again this can be a challenge if you are a teacher, working within the confines of the National Curriculum with 30 other children in the class. However, children often can cope if they are provided with options – ‘would you like to do X first or Y?’ The expectation is, of course, that they need to do something but at least giving them a choice can reduce the demand somewhat.

…when suddenly – boom, everything explodes and you are back to square one

Also, unlike children with more classic forms of Autism, providing lovely visual timetables and schedules are unlikely to be effective for children with the PDA profile. Quite often the anxiety provoked by worrying about what is going to happen leads the child to sabotage the activity rather than deal with those uncomfortable feelings. This can be very difficult for both parents and teachers to understand, particularly if the activity is something you know they would enjoy, but talk to any adult with the PDA profile, and they will confirm that the stress of expectations (both their own and those of other people) can be simply unbearable. Rewards and positive reinforcement for appropriate behaviour can often provoke the same reaction because if you do well once, the expectation (and therefore the demand) to do the same next time is also a challenge.

Finally for part one of this topic, both parents and staff working with children with the PDA profile, need to be aware that what works one day may not work the next. Everyone may be congratulating themselves and feeling that they have turned a corner when suddenly – boom, everything explodes and you are back to square one. Everything depends upon the level of anxiety, or the child or young person’s need for control, at any given time. The less the anxiety, the more co-operative the behaviour, the higher the anxiety, the more likely you are to see challenging behaviour.

Part two of this article looks at ways in which school staff can help to build emotional resilience in Autistic children, what to look out for in terms of mental health issues, and how to avoid burnout when working one to one with a child with the PDA profile.