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PDA Resources

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PDA Educator Support Pack | Classroom Strategies & Resources

When a student is overwhelmed, the adults supporting them need more than good intentions—they need practical strategies they can access in the moment.

The PDA Educator Support Pack gives teachers, education assistants, relief staff and student support teams clear, everyday guidance for supporting students who experience demand avoidance, anxiety or a strong need for autonomy.

Instead of treating avoidance as defiance or focusing on compliance, this pack helps educators recognise what may be happening beneath the behaviour and respond in ways that reduce pressure, protect connection and build trust.

The large classroom posters keep essential strategies visible and easy to follow, while the matching desk companions give staff a quick-reference tool they can keep close by. This helps create a more consistent approach across teachers, education assistants, relief staff and support spaces—so the student isn’t expected to adjust to a completely different response from every adult.

What’s Included

🧠 A2 Classroom Support Poster

A practical classroom guide featuring supportive communication strategies, helpful approaches and key reminders for reducing demand pressure and building trust with PDA and demand-sensitive students.

💜 A2 “6 Essential Steps for De-escalation” Poster

A clear, easy-to-follow visual guide for supporting a student during moments of overwhelm or escalating distress. Ideal for classrooms, wellbeing spaces, support rooms and staff areas.

📖 2 Matching Double-Sided Desk Companions

The Classroom Support Guide on one side and the 6 Essential Steps for De-escalation on the other. Perfect for teacher desks, relief teacher folders, learning support offices, wellbeing teams and individual student support files.

This Pack Can Help Educators

  • Better understand demand avoidance and the need beneath the behaviour

  • Reduce unnecessary pressure within everyday classroom interactions

  • Use more collaborative and autonomy-supportive communication

  • Respond more consistently during moments of overwhelm

  • Support de-escalation without adding further demands

  • Build greater trust, safety and connection with students

  • Give relief staff and support teams immediate access to key strategies

Ideal For

  • Classroom teachers

  • Education assistants

  • Relief and substitute teachers

  • Learning support teams

  • Wellbeing and regulation spaces

  • Individual student support files

  • Schools supporting PDA or demand-sensitive students

Practical strategies. Clear reminders. More consistent support.

Because when every adult understands how to reduce pressure and respond supportively, the student no longer has to start from scratch with every person they encounter.

$39.95
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Is Everything A Demand? Understanding and Parenting a Child with a PDA Profile

When almost anything can feel like a demand, everyday life can become exhausting — for your child and for you.

Getting dressed. Brushing teeth. Leaving the house. Starting schoolwork. Answering a simple question. Going somewhere they actually wanted to go.

Sometimes even hunger, thirst, needing the toilet or wanting to do something can create an internal sense of demand.

And as a parent, it can leave you wondering:

Why did that become a demand?
Why could they do it yesterday but not today?
Why did something they actually wanted to do suddenly become impossible?
And how am I supposed to know when everything seems to be a demand?

Is Everything a Demand? is a practical, neuro-affirming workbook designed to help parents and caregivers better understand demand avoidance and the everyday experiences of children with a PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance / Persistent Drive for Autonomy) profile.

Rather than focusing on compliance or trying to make a child simply “do the thing”, this workbook encourages curiosity:

What might be underneath the refusal?
Where is the pressure coming from?
What patterns are we noticing?
What helps this particular child feel safer and more in control?

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to PDA.

This workbook gives you the space and prompts to build a deeper understanding of your child, their individual demand profile and what everyday life actually looks like for your family.

Inside You’ll Explore

  • What demand avoidance can look like in everyday life.

  • Different types of demands — including the ones we don't always recognise as demands.

  • Internal, indirect and everyday demands.

  • Real-life scenarios and opportunities to look beneath the behaviour.

  • Reflection activities to help identify patterns, triggers and observations.

  • Space to record experiences, thoughts and approaches that have helped.

  • Guided prompts to support ongoing understanding as your child's needs change.

Who It’s For

  • Parents and caregivers of children with a PDA profile.

  • Families exploring whether demand avoidance may be playing a role in everyday challenges.

  • Grandparents and extended family wanting to better understand PDA.

  • Educators supporting PDA children at school.

  • Occupational therapists, psychologists, speech pathologists and other allied health professionals.

  • Anyone wanting to better understand demand avoidance through a neuro-affirming lens.

Product Details

  • A4 practical workbook.

  • High-quality softcover.

  • Interactive reflection pages and guided activities.

  • Designed to be returned to as you learn more about your child.

Created from lived experience, research and professional learning, Is Everything a Demand? isn't about finding another way to make a child comply.

It's about stepping away from “How do I make them do this?” and becoming curious about “Why does this feel so hard for them?”

Because sometimes the biggest shift comes from understanding the demand before trying to change the response.

Disclaimer: This workbook is an educational and reflective resource only and is not intended to provide medical, psychological, therapeutic or diagnostic advice. It does not replace individualised advice or support from a qualified health or allied health professional. Every child is different, and the information and strategies explored within this workbook may not be appropriate for every child or family.

$39.95
Limited Availability
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PDA Declarative language Prompt Cards

You know you need to reduce the pressure.

You know direct demands can make things harder.

But what are you actually supposed to SAY instead?

That’s exactly where these cards come in.

The PDA Declarative Language Prompt Cards are a practical, grab-and-use communication resource designed to help parents, educators and support professionals move away from constant instructions, questions and reminders — and towards language that supports autonomy, collaboration and connection.

Because declarative language isn't simply about swapping one sentence for another.

It’s learning how to communicate differently.

Inside the deck are 65 double-sided cards, each built around real, everyday situations. Rather than giving you a list of phrases to memorise, the cards help you understand what you could say, why it may help, and how you can apply the same approach in other situations.

So when you're standing there thinking:

“I know saying ‘Put your shoes on’ is getting us absolutely nowhere… but what do I say instead?”

You have something practical to reach for.

Each card includes a common everyday situation, a declarative language example, an explanation of why the approach may be helpful, and practical ideas you can start using straight away.

The goal isn't to disguise demands or find a nicer way to get compliance.

It's to help create communication that feels less pressuring, more collaborative and more respectful of autonomy — while giving the adults around the child the confidence to actually use declarative language in real life.

Perfect for home, classrooms, therapy settings and support teams, especially when multiple adults are trying to understand and use the same approach.

Because “use declarative language” is easy advice to give.
Knowing what that actually sounds like at 7:45am when nobody has shoes on is another story.

⸻

Please note: These cards are educational communication resources designed to support learning and everyday interactions.

They are not medical devices and are not intended to diagnose, treat or replace professional advice.

$59.95

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