PDA North America - Pathological Demand Avoidance

PDA North America - Pathological Demand Avoidance Our mission is bold. We want to spread awareness of PDA to parents, individuals, educators and therapists throughout the US and Canada.
(2)

Our mission is to provide advocacy, education, and resources to autistic PDA individuals, others who identify as PDA and their families along with the professionals who support them. We want families to have a place to turn for support and guidance. We want professionals to be able to receive training, consultation and information in order to effectively teach or treat PDAers. And we want PDAers to know that they are understood. In short, to build a strong and vibrant community for this underserved population.

⏰ 1 Week Left to Register!Clinical Therapists: Are you ready to change the way you support neurodivergent & PDA clients?...
01/28/2026

⏰ 1 Week Left to Register!

Clinical Therapists: Are you ready to change the way you support neurodivergent & PDA clients?

Join our Executive Director, Diane Gould, LCSW in this 3-hour, neuro-affirming training, and you’ll learn how to:

✨ Understand PDA as a unique neurodivergent profile—not a “behavior problem”
✨ Recognize the strengths and autonomy your clients bring to therapy
✨ Navigate complex challenges like anxiety, demand avoidance, and overwhelm
✨ Implement practical, connection-based strategies that actually work

Gain the insights, skills, and confidence to create therapy experiences that feel safe, empowering, and effective for PDA clients. (Not intended for therapists already comfortable serving PDA &
neurodivergent individuals.)

📅 Friday, Feb 6, 2026
🎟 Secure your seat now: Register Here https://buff.ly/xea8q0U

💬 PDA & Fatherhood — a place for dads, grandpas & caregivers who get it.Join PJ Starling () on Mar 10 @ 7 PM CST for an...
01/27/2026

💬 PDA & Fatherhood — a place for dads, grandpas & caregivers who get it.
Join PJ Starling () on Mar 10 @ 7 PM CST for an honest, supportive conversation about raising PDAers.

✅ Empathy without judgment
✅ Shared strategies
✅ Real-life stories

🎟️ | https://buff.ly/g65mYc1

Parents of PDAers: we need your help. 💛We hear it constantly: “I wish our therapist understood PDA.”The need for PDA-inf...
01/26/2026

Parents of PDAers: we need your help. 💛

We hear it constantly: “I wish our therapist understood PDA.”
The need for PDA-informed mental health care is exploding, but training in this area is still limited across much of the field.

Parents are often the first line of defense, education, and advocacy for their PDAers. Sharing resources like this is one way we help shift systems—not just for our kids, but for the families coming after us.

📣 PDA Training for Therapists: Creating Effective Mental Health Practices for PDA Individuals
🗓 February 6 | 🎓 CEs available (Social Workers – live attendance required)

Supporting PDA clients requires more than traditional tools—it requires a completely different lens. PDA is frequently misunderstood, misdiagnosed, or missed altogether, leaving many PDAers feeling unseen or unsafe in therapy.

If you have a therapist in your world who genuinely wants to be more PDA-informed, please share this with them.

🎟 Register here: https://buff.ly/Q6iavwz

💛 1 Week to Go: PANS, PANDAS & Neurodivergence Webinar🗓 Jan 29 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM ESTIf you’re feeling uncertain, overw...
01/22/2026

💛 1 Week to Go: PANS, PANDAS & Neurodivergence Webinar
🗓 Jan 29 | 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM EST

If you’re feeling uncertain, overwhelmed, or unsure how to help your child with PANS/PANDAS alongside neurodivergence, this webinar is for you.

Helen Edgar and Laura Hellfeld will share insights from lived experience and professional expertise, offering practical, compassionate strategies to support children and young people at home and in educational settings.

You don’t have to figure this out alone—come join a caring space where your questions, struggles, and hopes are welcomed.

Join us for a safe, compassionate, neuroaffirming webinar with AuDHD Educator Helen Edgar and PDA AuDHD Nurse Consultant Laura Hellfeld.

🎟 Secure your spot: https://buff.ly/gdn6mP2

🌟 Now Streaming! 🌟Seeing the Whole Child: Strength-Based Assessment for PDA Kidswith Jade Rivera, Ed.D. & Marni Kammerse...
01/20/2026

🌟 Now Streaming! 🌟
Seeing the Whole Child: Strength-Based Assessment for PDA Kids
with Jade Rivera, Ed.D. & Marni Kammersell, M.A.

Too often, assessments focus on what’s “missing” — not what’s possible. This webinar explores how strength-based approaches uncover the gifts, needs, and interests of PDAers.

🎯 What’s inside:
🔍 Tools for more affirming, accurate assessments
🏡 Experience from public, private, and home learning settings
🧠 Support for understanding the whole child, not just the behaviors

💬 “It felt like a relief to finally see my child for who they are — not just what they struggle with.”

🎥 Available now, self-paced
🔗 Watch Here: https://buff.ly/rIuj8To

If “consequences” worked for PDA kids, most of us wouldn’t be here. 💛 But for PDAers, traditional behavior strategies ba...
01/19/2026

If “consequences” worked for PDA kids, most of us wouldn’t be here. 💛 But for PDAers, traditional behavior strategies backfire because they miss the point:

Behavior is communication.
Not a character flaw.

When we say a PDA child “needs attention,” what we often mean is:
They need connection.
They need safety.

The hardest part is as parents, therapists, medical professionals, and educators, we were all taught to CONTROL the behavior. But with PDAers, the real change comes from building their capacity for emotional regulation so they can access the skills they already have, but haven't been able to access.

If you want to learn more, comment “PDA behavior” and we’ll send you the link to the pre-recorded webinar we did last month all about behavior and PDA.

01/18/2026

Have you heard about our new PDA training for therapists? If you’re interested in learning more comment “pda therapist” below and we’ll send you the link for our live training on Jan30th! (Social work aces available!)

For PDA children, connection-based learning is absolutely crucial for educational success, especially in public school s...
01/18/2026

For PDA children, connection-based learning is absolutely crucial for educational success, especially in public school systems. And most educational systems take a "one size fits all" approach and are not build for this.

That’s why we’ve created our 2-part PDA & Education: Connection Based Learning training for Educators. Together, we can make sure schools better understand and support PDA learners.

Divided into two main parts, along with bonus material on communicating with PDAers, our PDA & Education trainings aim to empower school staff and students. Enroll today and make a difference in the lives of PDA students.

Our PDA & Education Training Includes:
- Self-paced virtual training from our expert presenters
- Downloadable PDFs of all presentations
- Supplemental downloadable materials
- Unlimited replay access to all sessions for the rest of the school year

By taking the PDA & Education training you’ll walk away able to:
- Recognize and understand PDA students
- Design classrooms that meet their unique needs
- Support students behaviorally and emotionally
- Develop effective 504 Plans and IEPs for complex learners
- Apply these approaches to benefit all students — even those without formal diagnoses

If your child is struggling with learning and you’re eager to help them, comment “PDA & education” and we’ll send you the link to learn more about our trainings. Your child deserves to thrive!

In this week’s speaker spotlight for the 7th Annual PDA North America Conference, we’re highlighting the main authors of...
01/16/2026

In this week’s speaker spotlight for the 7th Annual PDA North America Conference, we’re highlighting the main authors of our PDA Lived Experience Survey Report: PDA North America's Founder & Executive Director, Diane Gould, LCSW-C will interview PDANA's Research Lead & Parent of a PDAer, Melissa McKenzie, Ph.D. along with co-author & Parent to PDAer, Michele Kleinmann. They will be speaking LIVE on March 5th. (Virtual tickets include access to this day as well!)

🗣️ The PDA Experience Report: Key Findings

About the Talk:
The PDA North America Research Team leads, Michele and Melissa will present the key findings from the 2025 PDA Lived Experience Survey of around 2,200 surveys, have a live discussion with founder Diane Gould, and take questions from the live audience.

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

Do you have Sleep Struggles with your PDA child? 💤👶 Tune into the PDA & Sleep webinar from: Suzanne Gunn, Infant & Famil...
01/15/2026

Do you have Sleep Struggles with your PDA child? 💤👶

Tune into the PDA & Sleep webinar from: Suzanne Gunn, Infant & Family Sleep Specialist and Autism Support Consultant!

Discover why sleep can be so challenging for children with PDA and learn practical, compassionate strategies to support your child when bedtime becomes a battle.

In this session, Suzanne will:
🌙 Explore root causes behind sleep difficulties in PDAers
💡 Share actionable tips for parents facing tough nights

📺 Available now to watch anytime, at your own pace!
https://buff.ly/HmGa9me

💛 Finding support shouldn't feel impossible — but for so many in the PDA community, it has. That’s why we built somethin...
01/14/2026

💛 Finding support shouldn't feel impossible — but for so many in the PDA community, it has. That’s why we built something different.

Introducing the PDA-Affirming Providers List — now with 700+ professionals who actually get it.

🏥 Therapists who understand PDA profiles
🏫 Educators who create safe, flexible learning environments
🩺 Doctors who listen without judgment
🧠 Coaches, advocates, and more — all PDA-informed and neurodiversity-affirming

Whether you're:
✨ Searching for someone new
✨ Wanting to recommend a provider who's changed your life
✨ A provider yourself ready to be part of something powerful —

This list was made for you — by and for our PDA North America community. 💬

📎 The full directory https://buff.ly/xTm3yfM
📎 The link to add a provider (or yourself!). https://buff.ly/eeQK8lZ

Let’s keep building this together. Families are finding hope. People are being seen. And support is finally starting to look the way it should. 💫

In this week’s speaker spotlight for the 7th Annual PDA North America Conference, we’re highlighting Jennifer I. Huffman...
01/14/2026

In this week’s speaker spotlight for the 7th Annual PDA North America Conference, we’re highlighting Jennifer I. Huffman, PhD, ABPdN— Dr. Huffman will be speaking LIVE on March 5th (Virtual tickets include access to this day as well!)

Dr. Huffman brings both professional expertise and lived experience as a late-diagnosed Autistic PDAer.

🗣️
About the Talk:
In Unlocking the PDA Brain, Dr. Jennifer Imig Huffman breaks down anxiety-driven demand avoidance, executive and sensory differences, and learning challenges—while offering practical, neurodiversity-affirming strategies that actually work across home, school, and work.

About Dr. Huffman:
Dr. Jennifer Imig Huffman (she/her) is an Autistic/PDA Illinois-licensed clinical psychologist, board certified pediatric neuropsychologist, fellowship trained lifespan neuropsychologist and PSYPACT credentialed provider who specializes in neurodivergence across the lifespan.

She is the founder/owner of Neuropsychology Center for Attention, Behavior & Learning, PLLC, a private practice in its 14th year. During her training and career, Dr. Huffman has worked extensively with autistic children and adults providing clinical, forensic, and psycho-educational evaluations with a particular focus on complex autism, trauma, ADHD, OCD, and PDA presentations.

Dr. Jennifer works with providers in both the United States and United Kingdom on conceptualizing the PDA profile and has evaluated and consulted with parents, schools, and individuals on PDA in children and adults for several years. She is neurodivergent herself and is passionate about helping other neurodivergent individuals focus on their strengths and overcome their obstacles. In practice, she is a “Brain Detective” with children to help them learn how their brains work best, doing so through a play based, low demand, assessment process.

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

Address

Deerfield, IL

Website

https://pdanorthamerica.org/

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when PDA North America - Pathological Demand Avoidance posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Practice

Send a message to PDA North America - Pathological Demand Avoidance:

Shortcuts

Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on LinkedIn
Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share via Email
Share on WhatsApp Share on Instagram Share on Telegram

Category

Our Story

PDA North America was established as a result of the March 2020 Chicago PDA workshop. At this first PDA event in America, there was overwhelming enthusiasm and support for an ongoing effort in the US and Canada by the parents and professionals who attended. Diane Gould hosted the workshop and she is the founder of PDA North America. The workshop presenters from the UK were Laura Kerbey and Harry Thompson who serve as advisors to PDA North America. Sandra McConnell and Ann Hackler-Foutch, parents of children with PDA have joined the PDA North America effort as Certified PDA Trainers and Consultants.