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He's just being Defiant: Autism & PDA❌
- May 25
- 1 min read
That is the most common misconception about children with a 𝐏𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐯𝐨𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 (𝐏𝐃𝐀) profile. But PDA isn’t about "𝐰𝐨𝐧'𝐭" - it’s about "𝐜𝐚𝐧’𝐭."
It is helpful to think of PDA not as a "𝐛𝐞𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐬𝐬𝐮𝐞", but as a constantly fluctuating anxiety disorder. When a child with PDA encounters a 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝, their brain perceives a threat to their safety.
I’ve put together a visual breakdown of:
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐚 𝐏𝐃𝐀 𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧
𝐏𝐃𝐀 𝐯𝐬. 𝐎𝐃𝐃 (𝐎𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐃𝐞𝐟𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐃𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐝𝐞𝐫)
𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐜𝐢𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐬
𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐭𝐨 𝐀𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐜𝐡 𝐚 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐏𝐃𝐀
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐞𝐜𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞