Category: Challenging behaviour
-
The Writing on the Wall
One of the biggest issues that I’ve come across from our SEND journey is that some professionals working with families are unable to read the signs. In fact, I could go so far to say that some of these experts have so much tunnel vision that they become unable to be objective when looking at…
-
Dreams can come true
Last year I wrote about an experience we had when an educational psychologist and an autism advisory teacher came to our home to do a joint assessment. The post was aptly titled I want to bring my pet to school and here is a quick link to the full details. To sum up the post…
-
The Next Chapter
This weekend I finally had news that has been a catalyst to move us on to the next chapter of our story. But before I explain about that, I kind of need to take you back to what has happened so far along our journey, particularly as we have so many new followers that have…
-
The Born Negotiator
”Don’t forget, I know how to embarrass you,” she says. I mean, that’s not typical for an eight year old child to think about or verbalise to their parent, even less imaginable if you were to consider that the child in question is autistic. In a house with a child who has Pathological Demand Avoidance…
-
Safety Blanket
*Warning – potential triggers or upsetting content in this post* We all have our safety blankets. Sometimes we don’t even know we rely on them until they are suddenly pulled away from us and our comfort has gone. My eldest daughter, with PDA, had a cousin of the same age who she went everywhere…
-
Sleeping Beauties and Simple Wishes
On New Years Eve, as I lay down with my eldest daughter to help get her to sleep, I asked what her new year’s wish would be – you certainly can’t ask a demand-avoidant child what her new year’s resolution would be! Going to sleep over the last few years has been one of our…
-
Dear Teacher
If my teacher saw me now, what would you think? Am I the same disruptive kid, you find so hard to teach? I want to be like other children, sitting on their seats. You always say they’re well behaved, but what about me? I wish my thoughts stayed in one place, deep inside my head.…
-
How to Help a Child in Meltdown
Last week I did a mini-post on my Facebook page that seems to have been popular – I guess it’s the nearest I’ve ever got to something going viral! In relation to my usual audience reach, this has way bypassed the usual ratings and has sparked conversations (and heated debates!) with those who wouldn’t usually…
-
The Invisible Barrier
“I’ve kind of spent my whole life in this kind of observational role, even when I’m an active participant.” Little Black Duck (adult with PDA) – taken from the book PDA by PDA’ers An important trait, often missing from our current thinking on Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), is the behaviour of ‘observing.’ Studying other individuals…