PDA North America - Pathological Demand Avoidance

12/12/2025

👥 Hey dads, stepdads, grandpas, and male-identifying caregivers — we’re kicking off the new year with support and connection.
If you’re raising or supporting a child with PDA, you don’t have to do it alone.

💬 Join PJ Starling () on Jan 12 @ 7 PM CST for our first PDA & Fatherhood of 2026!
This group is all about:
✅ Real talk
✅ Judgment-free empathy
✅ Shared wisdom

🎟️ | Register Here: https://buff.ly/zZufln7
Come as you are — just being here matters.

12/10/2025

FREE DOWNLOAD: "Defining & Supporting PDA" – the ultimate resource for anyone seeking to understand and support individuals with PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance/Pervasive Drive for Autonomy).

This free 10-page comprehensive guide by PDA North America is a must-have for parents, caregivers, educators, and professionals.

It covers:

✔️ What PDA is and how it’s understood in North America
✔️ Key characteristics and traits
✔️ Essential, effective supports
✔️...and much more!

📥 Comment "10page" to get the direct link for download!

A 10-page guide to understand and support PDA individuals.

12/09/2025

You have through Dec 31st to use the 50% code for all pre-recorded webinars on the PDA Learning Lab 💛

12/08/2025

In this week’s speaker spotlight for the 7th Annual PDA North America Conference, we’re highlighting Sunita Kapahi Theiss ()—a mother, author coach, and advocate who supports families navigating neurodivergence across cultural, faith-based, and family systems. Sunita will be speaking LIVE from Chicago-area on March 6th, with our virtual audience tuning in.

Sunita brings both professional expertise and lived experience as a late-diagnosed Autistic, ADHD (AuDHD) PDAer and parent to PDAers.

About the Talk:
🗣️ Attachment, Autonomy, and a Little Bit of Chaos: Parenting PDA as a Neurodivergent Mom

Parenting PDA as a neurodivergent mom brings unique challenges and opportunities, especially when you have differing (and sometimes competing) needs. In this talk, Sunita Kapahi Theiss shares how her family embraced low-demand, attachment-based approaches to create flexible routines that support connection, regulation, and growth—and offers parents some ideas for how to navigate their own family's differing sensory, emotional, and executive functioning needs without forcing rigid or unworkable structures.

About Sunita:
Sunita Kapahi Theiss is a late-diagnosed Autistic, ADHD & PDA mother, writer, coach, and advocate who helps families navigate the complex realities of neurodivergence across cultural, faith-based, and family systems. Her work blends personal insight with professional experience as she supports parents raising neurodivergent children—often while exploring their own neurodivergence, too.
After more than a decade in marketing and communications, Sunita shifted her career toward advocacy, homeschooling, and guiding families in creating connection-centered, regulation-focused homes. As a mother and second-generation Indian American, her perspective is shaped by her cross-cultural upbringing and commitment to bridging understanding in diverse communities. She holds a Level 1 Certification from PDA North America and contributes regularly to PDA North America and Key Ministry. Sunita lives with her family in Georgia.

🔗 To learn more about the conference and grab your early-bird tickets, visit:
https://buff.ly/Gza0sLz

12/05/2025

✨ Deepen Your PDA Practice – Level 2 LIVE Training

Already completed PDA Level 1?
Now it’s time to go further — with the guidance of PDA autistic professionals who bring both clinical expertise and lived experience to their teaching.

Join Diane Gould, LCSW (), Zach Morris, and Sandra McConnell for an advanced, interactive training designed specifically for professionals.

📅 Friday, January 16
⏰ 10 AM – 3:30 PM CST
🎓 Earn 5 NASW CE hours*
🧠 Walk away with real strategies and deeper insight

🎟️ Register Here: https://buff.ly/ZvQWT3T
(*Level 1 is a prerequisite.)

12/04/2025

💥 PDA parents and caregivers - Adult PDAer & PDA Parenting Coach Keri Schouten is back for Part 2 of her PDA Communication Series. (We highly recommend watching Part 1 on the PDA Learning Lab before this one!)

Ever wonder why some conflicts with your PDA child feel impossible to navigate? Adult PDAer and PDA Parenting Coach Keri Schouten is returning for Part 2: PDA Communication –Co-Regulatory Conflict with PDA Individuals to help you decode these moments.

📅 Jan. 22 | 2-hour PDANA Training
✨ Learn how to reduce power struggles, strengthen connection, and respond in ways that actually work for PDA profiles.

🎟️ Save your spot here: https://buff.ly/bGJG53h

Missed Part 1? Check it out on our Learning Lab: https://buff.ly/7YKQQcF

💡 Come for the strategies. Stay for the insights only an adult PDAer can share.

12/03/2025

NEXT WEEK: 🎁 December Can Be Hard. Let’s Talk.

Parenting a child with Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) during the holidays? It’s a lot—and you’re not the only one feeling it.

This month’s support group for dads and male-identifying caregivers offers a space to share, reflect, and regroup with others who understand the PDA experience.

🗓️ December 9 at 7 PM CST
💬 Hosted by PJ Starling (), PDANA board member & adult PDAer
Click Here to Join Us: https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/pda-and-fatherhood-december--2025

✅ Honest conversation
✅ No judgment
✅ Just support that meets you where you are

Take one hour for you. It’s more than okay to need it.

12/02/2025

🌱 New on the PDA Learning Lab! 🌱
“Let’s Chat: PDA & Puberty” with Laura Hellfeld, Neurodivergent Nurse & Sleep Expert 🧠💬

Puberty is a big transition—and for PDAers, it can bring unique challenges. In this new webinar, Laura Hellfeld offers honest, empowering guidance for navigating puberty with compassion, clarity, and confidence.

💡 You’ll learn about:
🔹 Supporting autonomy and body awareness
🔹 Talking about self-care and menstruation
🔹 Building sensory-friendly puberty kits
🔹 Sleep tips and product recommendations
🔹 How to stay connected through change

This session is all about meeting young people where they are—and helping them move through puberty feeling seen, supported, and strong.

🎥 Start learning today:
👉 https://buff.ly/pVzPGLE

12/02/2025

Giving to YOU Tuesday!
As a huge thank-you for all your support in 2025, PDA North America is giving back to you! 💙

Starting today (Dec 2), enjoy 50% off all pre-recorded webinars on the PDA Learning Lab!
Use promo code giving2026 at checkout.

✨ Offer ends Dec 31 at 12pm CST.
Explore 60+ on-demand webinars here: https://buff.ly/oSmR9py

12/01/2025

💡 Supporting a PDAer at home, in school or in a professional setting? Traditional approaches to behavior often don’t fit.

Join Diane Gould for "What Learning About PDA Taught Me About Behavior" and explore neuroaffirming strategies that honor autonomy and reduce conflict. A must for families, educators, support professionals and clinicians!

🗓 Thursday, Dec 11 | 7 PM CST
🔗 Sign up here: https://buff.ly/QAe8V36

12/01/2025

In this weeks speaker spotlight for the 7th Annual PDA North America Conference, we're highlighting Kelsie “Mick” Olds, The Occuplaytional Therapist () who is passionate about the healing power of play as the core meaningful occupation of childhood. Kelsie will be speaking LIVE on Feb 27th via the all-virtual day of the conference. (If you purchase in-person tickets, you'll get access to this virtual day as well!)

Kelsie speaks from both professional experience and from their own lived experience as an autistic person and parent to two children.

🗣️ Feeling All The Feelings: Regulation & Interoception

About the Talk:
Even just the word “feeling” is a complicated word in the English language—it can mean a bodily sensation, an emotion, a physical texture we’re touching. Now add in the complication of trying to convert those things to meaningful messages in a neurodivergent brain and you have a recipe for a difficult time! Kelsie Olds, the Occuplaytional Therapist, breaks down the way brains make sense out of what they feel—and how you can use that knowledge to support your dysregulated child.

About Kelsie:
You may know Kelsie Olds from their work online as The Occuplaytional Therapist where they share daily with caregivers, teachers, and professionals. Kelsie has worked in rural Oklahoma, USA; on an Air Force Base in England; and now in Geelong, Victoria, giving them a uniquely international perspective on Western systems of healthcare and education that intersect and affect the children they work with every day.

🔗 To learn more about the conference and grab your early-bird tickets, visit:
https://buff.ly/Gza0sLz

11/27/2025

🌟 Start the new year with understanding.
New to PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance / Persistent Drive for Autonomy)? Join Diane Gould, founder of PDA North America, for PDA 101 — a compassionate introduction to PDA for families, professionals, and individuals.

🗓 Thursday, Jan 8 | 7 PM CST
🎥 FREE webinar ($25 suggested donation)
🔗 Register now to join live or catch the recording.
https://buff.ly/zi2o53e