things you struggle with today may even change (become more or less troublesome) depending on the way you feel or what is going on around you. Therefore, it may be a good idea to use pencil so you can change things you’ve written and erase things that are no longer difficult for you.
So, are you up for doing a little acting as our teacher? I bet you can teach us all what you are finding out about your PDA as you go through the book. In your role as our teacher you can tell us which of the struggles people with PDA may have apply to you, and which ways of dealing with their difficulties work for you.
We would like you to remember that:
You are the best teacher about YOU.
You are the expert about YOU.
Your parents, teachers and everyone who cares for you and is part of your life are really looking forward to learning from YOU about YOU.
You may want to do a drawing of yourself here dressed up as a teacher. In your picture, you may be teaching a lot of people, or just the most important people in your life. Would you prefer to be sitting down or standing up, walking around while explaining or writing it all down? If you prefer to dress yourself up as one, you
could ask your mother, father or a teacher to take a
picture of you in your very own teacher costume
and stick it up here, or you may
prefer to take a selfie.
So, teacher, are you ready to
prepare a whole lesson about
your PDA? Shall we get our
pencils out and start reading
and ticking boxes? Or maybe you prefer someone else to read it out loud and tick the boxes for you? Your choice!
Challenges You
May Struggle With
Demands, demands and more demands!
We have learned from the children and young people
with PDA we have met that they struggle a lot to cooperate
with demands.
We have learned from them how incredibly anxious being asked to do things can sometimes make them feel.
You may find it very hard to do
what others want you to do
Some children have also told us they find it difficult
when their parents ask them to get ready for
school or when their teachers ask them to
do things such as doing some homework
or getting changed for sports. Do you
find any of these things difficult?
Would you like to write down the demands
you find tricky?
• I struggle when my parents ask me to:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• I struggle when my teachers ask me to:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
• I struggle when other people (you can write their names here if you want) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
ask me to:
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
You can do it! You can’t do it!
Some people with PDA have tried to explain to us how it feels when they are asked to do something that they are perfectly able to do. Some explained that it felt like if they
