PDA Strategies: How to Support a Child With a PDA Profile
Children with a PDA profile experience everyday demands, even ones they want to do, as a threat. Their avoidance is driven by anxiety and a strong need for control, not by defiance. The most effective PDA strategies lower that anxiety by reducing pressure and giving the child more control.
Strategies that often help include:
- Reducing and rephrasing demands, for example "I wonder if…" instead of "You need to…"
- Offering real choices and sharing control wherever you can
- Using collaborative, playful or indirect approaches to tasks
- Building in flexibility and warning about changes ahead of time
- Watching for signs of rising anxiety and easing off early
- Allowing recovery time after a meltdown or shutdown, without consequences or discussion
This PDA course shows you how to use a Functional Behaviour Assessment to understand what drives the avoidance, then build a prevention and response plan that fits the child.
PDA Training for Parents and Teachers
For parents and carers: PDA parenting often means letting go of approaches that work for other children. You will learn how to reduce conflict at home, pick your battles, keep routines flexible and look after your own wellbeing.
For teachers and education staff: You will learn classroom PDA strategies, such as giving choices within tasks, using indirect instructions, offering low-pressure ways to ask for help and planning for transitions. The course provides 5 hours of accredited professional development.
No prior knowledge of PDA or Positive Behaviour Support is needed.
Better Understanding PDA and Autism
To best support children and young people experiencing Pathological demand avoidance, we have developed this online course that you can take at your own pace. Unlike other training programmes, our course has been written and created by behaviour professionals supporting pupils every day with conditions such as PDA, oppositional defiant disorder, autism spectrum disorder and sensory difficulties.
There is no formal diagnosis for Pathological Demand Avoidance - it is in fact a profile of Autism and is therefore covered by an Autism diagnosis. Understanding pathological demand avoidance is reliant on also understanding Autism Spectrum Disorder.
PDA is also closely associated with high anxiety levels so an awareness of anxiety is also key to support individuals with a PDA profile. We focus on delivering practical strategies that families, teachers and social care workers can use in practice with students in education or home settings. Our aim is to support you with the necessary knowledge of pathological demand avoidance and practical guidance to implement supportive strategies in the real world.
We encourage learners to access all of the video material provided on the course to completion and to practice your training by exploring different methods to see what works best with the students you support.
Functional Behaviour Assessment and Behaviour Management Plans
A core component of effectively supporting children and adolescents with pathological demand avoidance (PDA) is developing a clear and in-depth understanding of why avoidance, distress, or controlling behaviours occur. This course guides learners step-by-step through conducting a Functional Behaviour Assessment (FBA) in a way that is low-demand, collaborative, and sensitive to the unique neurology and anxiety profile associated with PDA.
Because PDA behaviours are often driven by an overwhelming sense of pressure, rather than opposition for its own sake, the FBA process helps you explore different methods for identifying the internal and external factors contributing to distress. This includes recognising anxiety triggers, sensory overload, uncertainty, perceived loss of autonomy, and unmet needs. Through a structured and compassionate lens, the FBA enables parents, educators, and social workers to gather meaningful information that builds confidence and clarity in how to support the young person.
Your training will equip you with the knowledge and guidance needed to complete an FBA that:
• Clarifies early warning signs of dysregulation
• Identifies patterns across home, school, and community contexts
• Highlights situations where reducing pressure enables greater participation
• Supports consistent understanding across teams of caregivers and professionals
• Helps determine which strengths, skills, and motivators can be used to increase autonomy and emotional safety
Developing the Behaviour Prevention and Management Plan
Using this foundation, you will then learn to develop personalised Behaviour Prevention Plans and Behaviour Management (Response) Plans tailored to the PDA profile. These plans focus on reducing perceived pressure, building predictability, supporting co-regulation, and offering flexible, low-demand alternatives that protect the child’s sense of agency. Instead of traditional compliance-based strategies, you will use approaches grounded in collaboration, emotional safety, and positive relationships.
Your Behaviour Prevention Plan will help you design environments that:
• Lower anxiety and reduce triggers
• Provide clear routines with opportunities for choice
• Offer sensory accommodations and communication supports
• Create low-demand pathways for engagement
• Encourage self-awareness and flexible problem-solving
Your Behaviour Response/Management Plan will guide you through responding to distressed behaviour with calm, clarity, and confidence, ensuring the young person feels understood and supported but never judged. You will learn how to match your response to their emotional state, use language that reduces demand, and prioritise regulation before expectation.
Throughout this section of the course, you will have access to practical resources, real-world examples, downloadable templates, and further information to help you apply these tools in your own setting. The structured guidance empowers learners to develop consistent, compassionate, and effective plans giving parents, teachers, and social workers the confidence to support children with PDA across a variety of environments. Ultimately you will develop a much deeper understanding pathological demand avoidance at your own pace.
By completing this module, you will gain:
• A deeper understanding of the Pathological Demand Avoidance profile and how it shapes behaviour
• Clear, actionable knowledge for carrying out an FBA
• Parent information and professional resources to assist with implementation
• A personalised set of plans that align with low-demand, autonomy-supportive practice in your own time
• Practical skills to strengthen relationships, reduce pressure, and promote wellbeing
With the right understanding, guidance, and resources, learners can confidently translate their skills into meaningful change—helping children with PDA feel safer, more regulated, and more empowered in daily life.
A Brief History of PDA and Its Place Within the Autism Profile
Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) was first described in the 1980s by UK researcher Elizabeth Newson, who observed a group of children whose presentations differed from other recognised types of autism. These children showed extreme, anxiety-driven avoidance of everyday demands, a strong need for autonomy, and highly flexible or socially strategic ways of resisting perceived pressure. Newson proposed the term Pathological Demand Avoidance to capture this distinctive pattern, and her early work laid the foundation for further research, discussion, and professional training.
Over time, the understanding of PDA has evolved. Rather than being viewed as a separate diagnosis, it is now widely understood as a profile within the autism spectrum, meaning it describes how autism can present for some individuals rather than constituting a stand-alone condition. PDA is therefore conceptualised as one of the different types of autistic presentation characterised primarily by heightened anxiety, demand avoidance, and an intense need to feel in control of one’s environment.
Although PDA is not listed as a formal diagnostic category in international manuals, it is increasingly recognised within educational and clinical practice because it helps to guide more appropriate support strategies. Professionals across education, social care, and health settings often find that understanding PDA leads to more effective responses rooted in emotional safety, flexibility, and collaboration.
Growing demand for clarity, resources, and professional capability has led to the development of structured PDA training, including courses such as the Pathological Demand Avoidance Diploma and programmes approved under the Quality Licence Scheme. These courses provide practitioners, parents, and allied professionals with the knowledge required to understand PDA within the broader autism profile and to apply evidence-informed approaches to support children and young people more effectively.
Today, PDA continues to sit within the wider conversation about autism, neurodiversity, co-regulation, and supporting nervous-system safety. As research develops, so too does our understanding of how best to support individuals with a PDA profile, ensuring that training remains compassionate, practical, and responsive to their unique strengths and needs.
PDA Course Frequently Asked Questions
What is Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)?
PDA is a profile, often described within autism, where a person avoids everyday demands and expectations to an extreme extent. The avoidance is driven by anxiety and a need for control. Many people now also use the term "Persistent Drive for Autonomy".
Is PDA a formal diagnosis in Australia?
PDA is not a standalone diagnosis in the DSM-5-TR or ICD-11. Some clinicians describe it as a profile of autism. The strategies in this course can help with or without a formal diagnosis.
Who is this PDA course for?
The course is designed for parents, carers, teachers, education support staff, support workers and allied health professionals who support children and adolescents with a PDA profile.
Is this course accredited?
Yes. Behaviour Help is a NESA and TQI accredited provider. The course provides 5 hours of professional development, and you will receive a certificate of completion at the end.
Does the course include PDA strategies for the classroom?
Yes. The course covers strategies for home and school, including how to adapt demands, offer choices and plan for transitions in the classroom.
How is PDA different from ODD?
Both can involve refusal, but PDA avoidance is driven by anxiety and a need for control, while Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) is a pattern of angry or defiant behaviour. They need different approaches. Read more in our PDA vs ODD article, or see our ODD online course.
How long does the course take, and how long do I have access?
The course takes about 5 hours to complete, including the video modules and the course book activities. It is self-paced, and you have 12 months from the date of purchase to complete it.
Is a book included with the course?
Yes. You receive a free copy of Dolly Bhargava's book, Positive Behaviour Support for Pathological Demand Avoidance.
Can I use NDIS funding to pay for the course?
Yes. The course is suitable for NDIS funding, whether your plan is self-managed, plan-managed or NDIA-managed. To request an invoice, email dolly@behaviourhelp.com with the course name, your child's full name, their NDIS number and the NDIS line item you would like on the invoice.