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Can I Tell You About...?
Can I tell you about Pathological Demand Avoidance syndrome? by Ruth Fidler (Illustrated, 21 Feb 2015) Paperback
Meet Issy – an 11-year-old girl with pathological demand avoidance syndrome (PDA), a condition on the autism spectrum. Issy invites readers to learn about PDA from her perspective, helping them to understand how simple, everyday demands can cause her great anxiety and stress. Issy tells readers about all the ways she can be helped and supported by those around her.This illustrated book is for readers aged 7 and upwards, and will be an excellent way to increase understanding about PDA in the classroom or at home. It also includes practical tips and recommended resources for parents and professionals.
Paperback
First published February 21, 2015
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 27, 2021
Why, yes! Please do! 😃
Super short book describing PDA, how it affects young people, and how to work with them. I call it PDA lite because it is a brief overview. Useful for people with social contact with a PDAer.
Super short book describing PDA, how it affects young people, and how to work with them. I call it PDA lite because it is a brief overview. Useful for people with social contact with a PDAer.
February 14, 2023
Excellent book to help others understand what someone on the spectrum with PDA might be experiencing.
January 10, 2020
Still not a fan of DSM-V and the unhelpful way it categorizes autism. So this book was very helpful in describing one sub-classification of Autism Spectrum Disorder. We bought this book when we lived in the UK, and there is definitely UK spelling, etc., but I'm also not clear on how PDA is categorized differently between the two countries.
But that's not relevant to the review. The book itself is very helpful in describing PDA, and helpful to me in understanding how it differs from classic autism and also Aspergers. It's a quick read, but definitely something to start you down the path of understanding.
But that's not relevant to the review. The book itself is very helpful in describing PDA, and helpful to me in understanding how it differs from classic autism and also Aspergers. It's a quick read, but definitely something to start you down the path of understanding.
February 17, 2020
This is a short book about Pathological Demand Avoidance syndrome, a sub classification of autism that is not recognized in the US but is in the UK. Also something that I have suspected for awhile that Abby might have. I thought this was an excellent description - it's a very short explanation of what it is like to have PDA written from the perspective an 11-year-old girl with PDA. The end of the book includes helpful hints for parents and teachers. I had Abby read it and she felt like she identified with the girl in the book.
October 28, 2021
This book is an easy read and quickly gives the reader an overview of what to expect from a child with PDA. Also gives a list of strategies that could help. It doesn't go in depth with the strategies but more "strategies in a nutshell" presentation. For someone who needs to know about PDA quickly I think it fills the bill.
October 5, 2022
This books gives an interesting perspective into this form of autism. We deal with this everyday and now have some valuable insight to help him. I love the fact that it's from the child's perspective. A definite must read for every parent dealing with this issue.
August 16, 2024
Quick read full of insight. Particularly helpful as PDA is not yet formally recognized in the US at this time. This book offered me an idea what my son might be experiencing and made concrete suggestions on how I might best support him.
February 4, 2025
Helpful and informative, especially since it's the child with PDA speaking. You get a very well-rounded point of view. The last part from the more "clinical" point of view was fine, I felt like I'd heard it everywhere before.
December 31, 2019
Seemed quite basic, but possibility of being useful for me to show relatives for a basic understanding.....
I have other books on the same subject to read also
I have other books on the same subject to read also
August 27, 2021
A good, short primer for those just learning about PDA.
July 18, 2024
Really great and the tips at the back are especially useful
October 30, 2024
Interesting easy to read book
March 8, 2016
There are so few books on PDA and such an urgent need for it to be understood that I always want to give 5 stars to any book addressing it and any book by Ruth Fidler and Phil Christie on the subject should have a head start.
I don't know how much of my impression of the book is down to it being shoehorned into the 'Can I tell you about...?" series format - I've not read any of the others in the series so I don't know how it compares. There is certainly a place for a slim volume and one accessible to young people themselves, including the font chosen. However, as a parent with 16 years experience of PDA, as it turns out (10 formally diagnosed at the Centre with which the authors are associated), and with some experience of other young people with PDA and a lot of reading of other people's experiences, I would not feel confident giving the book to someone wanting to understand my son or PDA. In particular I would not want to give it to anyone sceptical about the validity of a PDA diagnosis (and there are very many of these) because I do not feel it describes the condition or the approaches with any distinctiveness. Why bother having a separate diagnosis of PDA I wondered, on the basis of this book alone?
I liked the way it chose two children, one in mainstream education and one who has transferred to specialist provision, and doesn't shy away from the downsides of the latter but done in a matter of fact way. There are other usefully illustrative differences, as you might imagine, between the two children... it is just a pity that it does not really show that these two children with a PDA diagnosis are more like one another than like others with ASD. As a means of showing what it feels like to have *an* ASD, then maybe it's not bad... but there are any number of other works doing that.
I don't know how much of my impression of the book is down to it being shoehorned into the 'Can I tell you about...?" series format - I've not read any of the others in the series so I don't know how it compares. There is certainly a place for a slim volume and one accessible to young people themselves, including the font chosen. However, as a parent with 16 years experience of PDA, as it turns out (10 formally diagnosed at the Centre with which the authors are associated), and with some experience of other young people with PDA and a lot of reading of other people's experiences, I would not feel confident giving the book to someone wanting to understand my son or PDA. In particular I would not want to give it to anyone sceptical about the validity of a PDA diagnosis (and there are very many of these) because I do not feel it describes the condition or the approaches with any distinctiveness. Why bother having a separate diagnosis of PDA I wondered, on the basis of this book alone?
I liked the way it chose two children, one in mainstream education and one who has transferred to specialist provision, and doesn't shy away from the downsides of the latter but done in a matter of fact way. There are other usefully illustrative differences, as you might imagine, between the two children... it is just a pity that it does not really show that these two children with a PDA diagnosis are more like one another than like others with ASD. As a means of showing what it feels like to have *an* ASD, then maybe it's not bad... but there are any number of other works doing that.
March 4, 2016
Quick easy read covering basic of this disorder.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews