Favourite PDA resources

Hey :)

Meaning to write at least once a week, so bear with me!

The last three days the positive PDA summit has been on so I've not listened/read any of my normal stuff and have basically crammed hours of listening on PDA, which isn't necessarily polite to the rest of my family as I wander round with headphones in, praying not to be sabotaged by the Facebook gremlins (I've not managed to listen to anything without it cutting out part way through). Today is a bonus day with all the last three days available for free. I opened the page took a look to decide what to listen to first and decided I'm going to pay the early bird price and have a year’s access. This is a difficult decision, partly because I'm tight and spend most my life using free resources, but mostly because my ADHD brain needs that deadline, listen to it or else it's gone in 24 hours is a massive motivator to get my brain in gear!

It leads me to a bigger point. There is so much stuff out there that I want to learn from and so many resources out there, especially in light of Covid 19 and so many zoom courses for parents that  I get really overwhelmed. I actually spent half hour the other day going through things I’ve clicked interested on, pages I’ve saved that I have no idea how to prioritise and get through it all! So, this post is half, help others and half me prioritising!

So, the place my PDA awareness journey started was a blog that I can’t find about a family reducing all demands for their child. A lady I met through home education shared it with me and I thought, “wow, I don’t think I could ever do that!” and “I’m sure my daughter isn’t that demand avoidant”. It certainly raised questions that I hadn’t considered. I will add it if I can re-find it.

The next person/resources that have had a major impact on me is Libby Hill from Small Talk her blog is here http://www.smarttalkersblog.com/ and webpage http://www.private-speech-therapy.co.uk/assessment_54_3.html it was a evening presentation for my local autism support group where it felt like she described my daughter exactly!

I then by Libby’s recommendation listened to Harry Thompson https://www.harryjackthompson.com/ I first listened to him on YouTube, but have since read his book, jumped on Q and A’s and I never tire of hearing him speak. He’s sweary, funny and never ask him how to get your child to do something because he totally is on the side of your child and it triggers his demand avoidance which isn’t a nice thing to do!

Likewise, Julia Daunt and her Facebook Q and A’s have been enlightening! https://memyselfandpda.com/

SallyCat has the most amazing visuals on PDA https://memyselfandpda.com/

And I’d be remiss not to mention the PDA society too! https://www.pdasociety.org.uk/

Studio 3 I did a great webinar with Bo Elven and I own one of Bo’s books too (I’m part way through – this is where we run into my to do list!) https://www.studio3.org/ honestly if you have any violent/aggressive issues going on or frequent meltdowns, start here!

Moving on from where I’ve already read to where I’m going…

https://neurodivergentrebel.com/ I’ve just started dipping my toes into.

The Aspie world https://www.theaspieworld.com/ I’ve just started listening to too.

https://elearning.creativeeducation.co.uk/ have a free course each week! So far, I’ve managed one, but high on my do to list is the self-regulation one which is free all the time, I think. I try and keep an eye out to see if the weekly one is one, I need to stick in my diary! https://www.pookyknightsmith.com/blog is behind the creative education company.

https://sianhill.com/# I discovered from the positive PDA summit and I want to take one the courses as soon as I can as I think it’ll be really helpful! Sian looks at healing from developmental trauma/supporting that highly sensitive neuroception state that PDA is.

Then there are all the ones I find in my Facebook groups!

See why my head spins?!

My focus from now on is one or two a week, after I’ve had a brain break from the conference this weekend. If you are new to all this, take a deep breath, and think how lucky we are that all this is available! If behaviour is your main worry, start with Studio 3, if it’s general help PDA society, if it’s understanding life with PDA go with Harry 😊