About this course

Learning Objectives

• Name the characteristics of PDA children, teens and adults
• Describe what strategies are helpful and unhelpful for this population
• Explain how PDA differs from the more common autistic presentation as well as ODD and other diagnostic categories

Learning Levels

• Intermediate

Course Instructor(s)

• Diane Gould, LCSW

  Executive Director of PDA North America

  Diane is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker that specializes in serving autistic individuals. As the Executive Director and Founder of PDA North America, she founded the annual PDA North America conference held in Chicago that has changed the lives of hundreds of PDA (pathological demand avoidance/persistent drive for autonomy) families. She co-authored the book Navigating PDA in America with Ruth Fidler which was published in June 2024. In April 2024, Diane was diagnosed as autistic.

  Diane has a private practice in the suburbs of Chicago, where she serves neurodivergent children, adults and their families. Over the last 40 plus years, she has worked for both private agencies and school systems. Diane has always been facinated by human behavior and has worked to better understand and support individuals with distressed behavior over the years. She currently focuses her practiceon providing consultation and training. She works primarily with parents and regularly attends school meetings with them. Diane loves to train educators and therapists so they can better serve their students and clients.

  It was the understanding of behavior, autism and the supportive approach in the PDA literature that first drew her to learn more about PDA. And learning about PDA, led her to begin the new PDA movement in North America. Diane formed PDA North America at the first American PDA conference in March 2020.

  She is making it part of her life’s mission to gain more awareness and understanding of PDA in North America through this non-profit organization.

• Zach Morris, M.Ed.

  Zach Morris is an autistic thought leader in education. He is committed to helping people increase compassion, collaboration, and learning. Zach supports individuals, families, and organizations who aim to develop a greater sense of safety and empowerment in themselves, in their relationships, and in their communities.

  Gently guiding humans through the resistance they encounter is at the core of Zach’s work. He is inspired by the science of how people learn and change, and he aims to translate this to help individuals and communities improve awareness, communication, and structural support. Zach has 10+ years experience in the classroom, ranging from inner-city public school to rural therapeutic boarding school, and from non-traditional private school to individual co-op homeschool. Before transitioning into private practice where he now offers education consulting and family support services, Zach previously served as the director for a non-traditional k-12 school in Missoula, MT for eight years, after founding this school from the ground up. He is a forever student of neurodiversity and learning, and he continues to serve families that have been unable to thrive within education.

  Zach is most at home in the mountains of Montana where he lives with his partner and two boys. When he is not championing compassionate learning structures, he likes to spend his time walking in the woods, cooking for the people he loves, and making music.

Disclosure

References

• O’Nions, E., & Eaton, J. (2020) Extreme/‘pathological’ demand avoidance: an overview. Paediatrics and Child Health. 30 (12) 411-415
• O’Nions, E., Viding, E., Floyd, C., Quinlan, E., Pidgeon, C., Gould, J. Happé, F. (2018) Dimensions of difficulty in children reported to have an autism spectrum diagnosis andfeatures of extreme/‘pathological’ demand avoidance. Child and Adolescent Mental Health.
• Fusar-Poli, L., Brondino,N.,Politi, P ., Aguglia, E. (2022) Missed Diagnoses and misdiagnoses of adults with autism spectrum disorder. European Archives of Psychiatryand Clinical Neuroscience, 272, 187-198.http: //doi.org/10.1007/s00406-020-01189-w
• Fiddler, R. & Gould, D (2024). Navigating PDA in America: a framework to support anxious, demand-avoidant autistic children, teens and young adults. Jessica Kingsley Publishing.
• Price, D. (2022). Unmasking autism: Discovering the new faces of Neurodiversity. Harmony Books.
• Siegel, D. (2020). The developing mind: how relationships and the brain interact to shape who we are. The Guilford Press
• Hull, L., Mandy, W., Lai, M. C., Baron-Cohen, S., Allison, C., Smith, P., & Petrides, K. V. (2019). Development and validation of the camouflaging autistic traits questionnaire (CAT-Q). Journal of autism and developmental disorders, 49(3), 819-833.