Catalyst Occupational Therapy Services

12/11/2025

Loving this

05/10/2025

AuDHD Parent + PDA Child = A Beautiful, Exhausting Dance 🧠💙

You understand your child's need for control because you feel it too. You see their overwhelm because you live it daily. You recognise their masking because you've perfected the art yourself.

Being an AuDHD parent to a PDA child means you're fluent in the same language, but that doesn't make it easier. Sometimes it makes it harder.

The beautiful parts:
• You truly GET why demands feel threatening
• You can spot their overwhelm before anyone else
• Your sensory needs align, you both need the calm space
• You understand stimming, special interests, and the need for routine
• Your empathy runs deep because you've been there

The exhausting parts:
• Their meltdown triggers your own nervous system
• You're masking your own needs to support theirs
• Executive function struggles meet executive function struggles
• Your ADHD brain forgets the PDA strategies when you're dysregulated
• You're advocating for them while your own needs go unmet

The guilt:
"I should be better at this because I'm neurodivergent too."
"Why can't I regulate when they need me most?"
"Am I passing on my struggles to them?"

The truth:
You're not failing. You're two beautifully wired nervous systems trying to find safety together. Some days you'll be the regulated one. Some days they will be. That's the dance.

The glimmers:
• You see their authentic self, not their behaviours
• You know accommodation isn't "giving in"
• You model that neurodivergent is not broken
• You're raising them to embrace their differences

You're exactly the parent they need. Perfectly imperfect and wonderfully wired. 🌼

08/09/2025

18/07/2025

17/07/2025

Have you and your child worked with Catalyst Occupational Therapy Services in the past?

I'd be so grateful if you could take a moment to leave a Google review.

Your feedback not only helps me grow and improve, but it also makes a BIG difference for visibility and other families looking for the right support for their child.

With gratitude,
Allison @ Catalyst OT

Post a review to our profile on Google