Orchid Child Play Therapy

19/12/2025

If you’re parenting a child with PDA, you may notice December feels harder.
Christmas brings a huge number of hidden demands – greetings, noise, routines changing, presents, questions from relatives, transitions, and unpredictable environments. It can be a lot for a nervous system that already works overtime!
You’re not imagining it if your child is more avoidant or more overwhelmed right now. Their demand load is higher.
Offering extra choices, slower transitions, quiet spaces, movement breaks, and flexible participation can support them to stay regulated.
And please remember to care for yourself this season. Your energy and regulation anchor your child.
You’re doing a great job supporting them through a very demanding time of year!

PDA and the Holiday Season: Understanding the Demands Christmas Can Bring

09/06/2025

For a while now, I have found myself drawn towards working with children with a Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) profile of autism. As such, I have spent a lot of time learning as much as I can about PDA, so that I can better support my clients in our sessions together. Working with children with PDA can often mean helping to advocate for them in other spaces, and finding language to better communicate their needs to others. Whilst the parents of children with PDA are often those that know their needs best, I have lent my voice to several reports to further facilitate understanding of these kid's needs in schools, at home, and with other therapeutic professionals.

I thought it might be helpful to compile this information into a resource that can be accessed and downloaded for free on my website, so that it can be used by others in any way that would be most helpful for them. This resource unpacks what PDA is, and how it can be better supported at home, at school, and through play therapy.

I do want to reinforce that the most important voices to listen to are those with PDA from the neurodivergent community, along with their parents/carers who consistently advocate for them. This resource is simply a compilation of my understanding of PDA, and contains suggestions for support that I frequently communicate with others.

You can access the resource here:
https://orchidchildplaytherapy.com/resources

Please do not remove my name or credit, otherwise feel free to use as helpful.

05/03/2025

New session times now available. Please reach out via our website: https://orchidchildplaytherapy.com/contact-us

05/03/2025

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has long been thought of as a condition affecting males. But more women and girls are being diagnosed as our understanding of it deepens. This is due, in part, to learning that ADHD in girls can look different than it does in boys.

For instance, girls are more likely to have inattentive ADHD, in which daydreaming and shyness are common. Conversely, it is more typical for boys to have hyperactive-impulsive ADHD or combined type ADHD.1

If left undiagnosed, ADHD in girls can result in disadvantages such as a lack of accommodation in the classroom, low self-esteem, and self-blame. It can even affect mental health well into adulthood. Being aware of the different symptoms of ADHD in girls can help you know when it might be time to see a doctor for an evaluation. (Verywell ❤️)

Image Olympia Therapy PLLC ❤️

05/03/2025

16/01/2025

Inside Parenting 💗

30/01/2024

Session Time available on Mondays at 1pm for new clients. Please reach out using the form on our website should you like to inquire.

Inclusive and Empowering Support for Children and Families.

11/09/2023

Many adults want those top few levels from their neurodivergent kids.

To get to those higher levels, we need all the lower levels solidly built up.

If you have concerns about any of those higher skills, work on the blocks underneath.

Maturity and life experience also help with building this tower. Many of our kids will need accommodations in place to support some things, such as the purple level (executive function skills). Needing accommodations is not a personal failing- not for the kid and not for the parent. It's a sensible, practical, and necessary support.

If you are accommodating your ND kids, your ND students, your ND employees- you are amazing. Thanks for showing the world that it can be done.

Em 🌈🌻✌
AuDHD SLP

02/08/2023