Pathological Demand Avoidance, PDA, is a subtype of autism and can be defined as a pervasive developmental disorder that falls under the autism spectrum. I came across a women on TikTok and she was explaining PDA and everything fits.. It's my daughter completely.. First time something has completely made sense too me.
I have to add a different perspective here. Children on the spectrum often avoid what is challenging and often the challenging part of what they are avoiding isn’t obvious to us. I think we should move away from the negative based language and frame this in a more neutral way. Persistent Drive for Autonomy….look at the work of Meg Proctor and Greg Santucci if you want to learn more.