At Peace Parents Podcast

In this episode, I spoke to a grandmother raising her 8-year-old PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance / Pervasive Drive for Autonomy) Autistic grandson who she had been homeschooling for a year-and-a-half after school trauma in first grade.
We discussed:
- Helping her grandson attend an in-person appointment with the pediatrician, so he could get a refill of his medication.
- The different approaches she could take to decide her actions in this tough situation.
- The fear of losing trust and the progress they have made by forcing him to the doctor's office.
- Experimenting with ideas for how to prepare her grandson for the doctor's visit with an indirect mode of communications, and how to leverage his special interest of elevators to support him accessing medical care.
We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did. It's from our live show "Parenting PDA Your Way" that I host on our social media at 1pm ET on Fridays.
Warmly,
Casey
PS - The grandma in this episode mentions our Paradigm Shift Program. Want to join the waitlist for the next cohort? Here's the link.

This is my second of three episodes about toileting and PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance or Pervasive Drive for Autonomy).
This episode is focused on what to do if your child has challenges with:
1 - Wiping
2 - Accidents
3 - Holding and constipation
4 - Pooping outside the toilet
5 - Peeing outside the toilet
Of course, I'm talking through taking a PDA/nervous system approach to helping your child or teen with these challenges. If you want to take a deeper dive into understanding why your PDA child or teen has these challenges, please check out my previous podcast episode (Ep. 142).
Also, in this episode I mention the decision making process I teach parents who are trying to decide when they should change their child or teen's diaper if doing so causes activation. If you want to learn more about making such decisions (or others), I teach how to do so in my free masterclass: School, Screens and Siblings, Oh My! Here's a link to where you can sign up for it for free:
https://at-peace-parents-podcast.captivate.fm/sssoh
xo,
Casey

This is my first of three episodes about toileting and PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance or Pervasive Drive for Autonomy).
This episode is focused on how to think about toileting over the long term with your PDA child or teen. Specifically, I talk through:
1 - Your questions in the following categories: wiping, holding and constipation, potty training, going outside the toilet, and accidents
2 - Logic and root cause of toileting struggles through the PDA lens
3 - What a stickiest basic need is and whether or not your child is in burnout
4 - 5 things to try in your home now
5 - Tracking progress so you can see clearly if this approach is helping your child
I hope it’s a helpful episode for you.
Xo,
Casey
PS - New to PDA? You can take our free 6-minute quiz to learn how well your child or teen fits the profile.

In this episode I spoke with a mom of a 4-year-old PDAer (Pathological Demand Avoidant) and a 10-month-old baby living in an apartment in Scotland.
She had just learned about PDA one month ago and had already made huge and brave changes in her home and parenting to support he son.
We discussed:
- How to start making a parenting paradigm shift if you are new to PDA.
- The importance of an experimental mindset as you are trying out new ways of supporting and accommodating your PDA child.
- How to pick your priorities for boundaries in the home. In this case we focused on safety around the baby, bedtime, and bathing once a week.
- How nervous system activation is cumulative over time (months and years) for PDA children and teens, which means we don't have to be perfect with accommodations, just consistent.
This episode is from the show we stream live on Fridays on our social media, "Parenting PDA Your Way." I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
With love,
Casey

Sorcha Rice is an occupational therapist and the clinical manager of Neurodiversity Ireland, who I met at their 1st conference last year. She identifies as AuDHD and PDA and spoke with me about how she understands and experiences PDA, what her childhood and teen years were like before she was diagnosed, going through burnout and recovery, how she manages her nervous system now, and some of the practices she incorporates to support her PDA occupational therapy clients.
It was wonderful to connect with Sorcha and hear her insights and so much of her story!
I hope you enjoy it too.
Xoxo,
Casey
PS - You can find more about Sorcha on instagram at both @ot_sorcharice and @neurodiversityireland
And in our conversation she also recommended a resource for other OTs - Kim Barthel.