Resources
This page brings together free educational content exploring PDA through a neuroaffirmative, nervous system–led lens.
Everything here is offered to support understanding, reflection, and learning…not compliance, behaviour change, or quick fixes.
You are welcome to engage with these resources in whatever order feels accessible
Downloadable Resources
These PDFs are based on my most shared educational These PDFs are based on my most shared educational content and are designed to be printable, shareable, and accessible. They are suitable for home, school, and professional settings. and are designed to be printable, shareable, and accessible. They are suitable for home, school, and professional settin
This resource explains why many autistic people prefer the term autistic rather than ASD, and why language matters for safety, dignity, and access to the right support.
It offers a simple, neuroaffirmative explanation of autism as a neurotype, not a disorder, and helps parents, educators, and professionals understand how words shape assumptions, expectations, and responses.
This is useful if you want to:
use language that autistic people actually prefer
move away from deficit-based or medicalised framing
create safer, more respectful environments
support understanding without pathologising
Designed to be clear, shareable, and accessible for schools, families, and professional settings.
This resource explains why the language we use in schools matters, and how terms like “autism unit” can unintentionally create separation, stigma, and low expectations.
It offers a clear, neuroaffirmative rationale for using “autism class” instead — framing these spaces as learning environments focused on belonging, safety, and support, rather than containment.
This is useful if you want to:
reflect on school language and its impact on autistic students
support dignity, belonging, and inclusion
align school practice with neuroaffirmative values
share a simple explanation with staff or families
Designed to be accessible, printable, and easy to share in school settings.
This handout supports educators to understand behaviour as nervous system communication, not defiance, and explains why regulation must come before learning.
Using a sensory and PDA-informed occupational therapy lens, it shows how pressure, unpredictability, and loss of autonomy impact capacity in the classroom — and how this affects behaviour, communication, sleep, feeding, toileting, hygiene, and safety.
This is useful if you want to:
move beyond behaviour management in schools
understand the Pyramid of Learning and why regulation comes first
recognise both visible and masked dysregulation
support regulation through co-regulation, autonomy, and predictability
create classroom environments where regulation happens naturally
Designed for school staff and professionals, this resource offers practical, neuroaffirmative guidance grounded in occupational therapy and lived experience.
This resource reframes so-called “challenging behaviour” as communication from a nervous system under stress, not defiance or poor motivation.
It explains behaviour through a sensory and PDA-informed occupational therapy lens, showing why regulation and safety must come before reasoning, consequences, or learning. Using the Pyramid of Learning, it clarifies how sensory overload, pressure, and loss of autonomy close capacity — and how this shows up in behaviour, communication, sleep, feeding, toileting, hygiene, and safety.
This is useful if you want to:
move beyond behaviourist interpretations
understand PDA behaviour as a survival response
recognise early signs of dysregulation, including masked distress
support regulation through co-regulation, autonomy, and environment
create safer, more effective school and home supports
Designed for parents, educators, and professionals, this resource offers practical, neuroaffirmative guidance grounded in occupational therapy and lived experience.
This document shares the lived experiences of 238 parents of neurodivergent children in Ireland, offering clear evidence that school burnout is not about poor attendance, laziness, or parental attitudes, but about nervous system overload and unmet needs.
It reframes school burnout as a survival response, showing how masking, sensory overload, relentless demands, and lack of regulation support lead to exhaustion, shutdown, anxiety, physical illness, and loss of access to daily living skills. The data highlights the gap between how children appear in school and the impact felt at home, alongside systemic barriers to accessing timely support.
This is useful if you want to:
understand school burnout as nervous system communication
hear parent voices that are often missing from policy discussions
challenge attendance-focused narratives that ignore wellbeing
advocate for regulation-first, neuroaffirmative school support
inform practice, training, or policy with lived experience data
Designed for parents, educators, professionals, and policymakers seeking a more ethical and realistic understanding of school attendance and burnout.
This handout shares what parents of PDAers and other neurodivergent children want their GP to understand in order to provide safe, effective, and accessible healthcare.
Grounded in lived experience and a nervous system–led occupational therapy framework, it explains how medical settings can become highly threatening for PDA nervous systems — and how belief, predictability, flexibility, and regulation support dramatically improve engagement and outcomes.
This is useful if you want to:
help GPs understand PDA beyond behaviour or anxiety
reduce medical trauma and healthcare avoidance
support safer appointments through declarative language and predictability
advocate for belief, listening, and parental expertise
share practical guidance directly with healthcare professionals
Designed to be shared with GPs and healthcare teams to support neuroaffirmative, regulation-first medical care.
This resource explains why PDA is not an anxiety presentation, and why understanding PDA through an anxiety lens often leads to support that unintentionally increases distress.
Drawing on nervous system science, occupational therapy frameworks, and lived experience, it clearly distinguishes between anxiety-driven distress and autonomic survival responses to demand and loss of autonomy. It shows how PDA behaviour emerges from body-first threat responses, not anxious thinking — and why common anxiety strategies (such as reassurance, exposure, or cognitive approaches) can escalate PDA distress when misapplied.
This is useful if you want to:
understand the difference between anxiety and PDA at a nervous system level
avoid supports that increase pressure, shame, or burnout
recognise why behaviour can change rapidly across contexts
support PDAers through safety, predictability, autonomy, and regulation
advocate for more accurate, ethical, and effective support
Designed for parents, educators, and professionals who want a clear, evidence-informed explanation of why PDA requires a different framework than anxiety.
This analysis examines Ireland’s national school attendance campaign through a neurodiversity-affirming, nervous system–led lens, highlighting where attendance policy risks causing harm to neurodivergent children and families.
It reframes school non-attendance as communication of nervous system distress, not lack of motivation, resilience, or parental effort. Drawing on occupational therapy, trauma-informed practice, lived experience, and policy analysis, it shows how attendance targets, reward systems, exposure-based approaches, and shame-driven messaging can increase masking, burnout, and long-term disengagement — even when attendance appears to improve.
This is useful if you want to:
understand school non-attendance as a regulation and safety issue
critically examine attendance policies and campaigns
challenge compliance-based and behaviourist attendance frameworks
advocate for regulation-first, rights-based educational practice
inform policy, leadership, training, or systems-level change
Designed for parents, educators, professionals, advocates, and policymakers seeking a more ethical and evidence-informed approach to school attendance.