PDA Book Recommendation Guide
PDA Book Recommendations
For Autistic individuals with a PDA profile, everyday requests or expectations may trigger an intense survival response, resulting in avoidance, heightened anxiety, and a strong drive for autonomy. As an Autistic adult with a PDA profile and parent of two Autistic children with a PDA profile, I understand intrinsically what it means to be an Autistic PDA individual but also as a parent and professional I understand how to support and why the approach to support Autistic PDA children and teens has to be different.
Despite increasing recognition, resources for understanding PDA remain limited, particularly those that are both academically informed and grounded in neuroaffirmative practice. Families, professionals, and Autistic people themselves frequently report difficulty accessing guidance that validates lived realities while offering practical support.
To address this need, I have developed the PDA Book Recommendations Guide. This guide integrates my perspective as a PDA Autistic adult, as a parent of two PDA Autistic children, and as a professional. It provides a carefully curated collection of texts that advance understanding of PDA, offering insight, strategies, and affirmation across diverse audiences.
Rationale for the Guide
The literature on PDA is gradually expanding yet remains dispersed across a range of personal accounts, professional reflections, and research texts. Families often express uncertainty about which resources will best support their context, while professionals face the challenge of distinguishing between approaches that are neuroaffirmative and those rooted in behavioural or compliance-based frameworks.
This guide therefore aims to:
Identify neuroaffirmative and evidence-informed texts that respect Autistic autonomy and dignity.
Provide clarity for families, professionals, children, and adolescents.
Highlight works that reflect contemporary understanding of PDA as a lived experience of some Autistic people.
Structure of the Guide
The PDA Book Recommendations Guide is organised into four categories:
Books for Families – Texts offering accessible, compassionate strategies that validate the experiences of parents and carers.
Books for Professionals – Resources with direct application to education, therapeutic practice, and clinical contexts.
Books for Children – Narratives and illustrations that affirm and reflect the experiences of Autistic children with a PDA profile.
Books for Adolescents and Young Adults – Honest, affirming accounts that support identity development and belonging during adolescence.
Authorial Position
The recommendations in this guide are informed by three intersecting perspectives:
Lived experience as a PDA Autistic adult, with insight into the complexities of autonomy, safety, and everyday life.
Parental experience as a mother to two PDA Autistic children, providing direct awareness of systemic barriers and family dynamics.
Professional expertise as an Autism specialist, ensuring that recommended texts are aligned with neuroaffirmative practice and responsive to the realities of Autistic lives.
This integrated position ensures the guide is both academically robust and deeply grounded in lived knowledge.
The Value of PDA Literature
Literature plays a vital role in shaping both understanding and practice. For families, texts often represent the first moment of recognition and validation. For professionals, they can serve as a catalyst for shifting away from deficit- and compliance-based approaches towards trust-based, autonomy-supportive practice. For Autistic children and adolescents, books can provide affirmation, belonging, and tools for self-understanding.
By collating resources across these readership levels, the PDA Book Recommendations Guide seeks to strengthen inclusive, affirming, and evidence-informed approaches to supporting Autistic people with a PDA profile.
Accessing the Guide
The full PDA Book Recommendations Guide is available for download on this website. It has been designed for ease of navigation and practical use across family, educational, and professional contexts. Click here to download your free PDA Book Recommendation Guide.
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References:
Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) and the Nervous System:
1. Foundational Understanding of PDA:
Newson, E., Le Maréchal, K. and David, C. (2003) ‘Pathological demand avoidance syndrome: a necessary distinction within the pervasive developmental disorders’, Archives of Disease in Childhood, 88(7), pp. 595–600. Available at: https://adc.bmj.com/content/88/7/595 (Accessed: 1 February 2025).
Johnson, M. and Saunderson, H. (2023) ‘Examining the relationship between anxiety and pathological demand avoidance in adults: A mixed methods approach’, Frontiers in Education, 8, Article 1179015. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2023.1179015/full (Accessed: 2 February 2025).
O’Nions, E., Happé, F., Viding, E. and Noens, I. (2021) ‘Extreme demand avoidance in children with autism spectrum disorder: Refinement of a caregiver-report measure’, Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 5(3), pp. 1–13. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41252-021-00203-z (Accessed: 1 February 2025).
O’Nions, E., Christie, P., Gould, J., Viding, E. and Happé, F. (2014) ‘Development of the “Extreme Demand Avoidance Questionnaire” (EDA-Q): Preliminary observations on a trait measure for pathological demand avoidance’, Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 55(7), pp. 758–768. Available at: https://acamh.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.12149 (Accessed: 2 February 2025).
2. Neurophysiological Perspectives:
Porges, S.W. (2011) The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-Regulation. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Porges, S.W. (2001) ‘The polyvagal theory: phylogenetic substrates of a social nervous system’, International Journal of Psychophysiology, 42(2), pp. 123–146.
3. Insights for PDA Practitioners:
O’Nions, E., Happé, F., Viding, E. and Noens, I. (2021) ‘Extreme demand avoidance in children with autism spectrum disorder: Refinement of a caregiver-report measure’, Advances in Neurodevelopmental Disorders, 5(3), pp. 1–13. Available at: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41252-021-00203-z (Accessed: 1 February 2025)
Haire, L., Symonds, J., Senior, J. and D’Urso, G. (2024) ‘Methods of studying pathological demand avoidance in children and adolescents: A scoping review’, Frontiers in Education, 9, Article 1230011. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/feduc.2024.1230011/full (Accessed: 1 February 2025).
4. Neuroscience and Trauma-Informed Perspectives:
Porges, S.W. (2009) ‘Reciprocal influences between body and brain in the perception and expression of affect: A polyvagal perspective’, The Healing Power of Emotion: Affective Neuroscience, Development & Clinical Practice, pp. 27–54.
5. Real-World Lived Experience and Clinical Application:
Christie, P. (2018) ‘PDA… the story so far’, PDA Society Resources. Available at: https://www.pdasociety.org.uk/resources/phil-christie-pda-the-story-so-far/ (Accessed: 1 February 2025).
