Understanding Pathological Demand Avoidance: Accommodating PDA Needs with Expert Casey Ehrlich

Sensory W.I.S.E. Solutions Podcast for Parents

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In this episode, Laura Petix interviews Casey Ehrlich, a social scientist and expert in Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). Casey shares her personal story of discovering her son's PDA diagnosis and journey to understanding. She discusses PDA as a dysregulated nervous system perceiving threats to autonomy. Casey provides 5 key accommodation strategies for supporting PDA needs, including letting kids win games, using declarative language, strewing for engagement, letting go of demands for "please" and "thank you", and allowing kids to opt out. Laura asks challenging questions and Casey explains how to apply accommodations thoughtfully. Parents will learn practical ways to connect with their PDA kids through an autonomy-focused lens. This episode is invaluable for anyone seeking to understand and support the unique needs of children with Pathological Demand Avoidance.
About the expert:
Casey Ehrlich, Ph.D. (she/her) is a social scientist, parent educator, and the founder of At Peace Parents, LLC. Casey brings 15 years of work experience and expertise in social science methodology to help parents and therapists understand how to connect with and accommodate PDA Autistic children. She specializes in teaching parents and therapists practical skills in the home or clinical setting to accommodate neuroception-driven demand avoidance and nervous system differences through creative techniques. She has served more than 1,000 families raising PDA Autistic children and teens since 2020 and is also raising a PDA autistic son.

Questions we cover:

What is PDA?

What is like parenting a child with PDA?

What are the best ways to accommodate a child with PDA?

What are some resources to look further into PDA?

Links:
@atpeaceparents instagram

PDA parents podcast https://www.pdaparents.com/podcast

- Kristy Forbes

- Neuroclastic

- Neurodivergent Lou

- Sally Cat (writes on the internalized expression of PDA)

- PDA Society (for journal articles on research about PDA)

- “The declarative language handbook”

5 ways to accommodate a PDA child instagram post

4 S’s for regulation in PDA

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Episode transcript: https://www.theotbutterfly.com/podcast

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Work with Laura: https://www.theotbutterfly.com/parentconsult

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