26TRA841 Understanding PDA - Exploring the Experiences Behind the Behaviour Webinar Series

 

 

 

 

 

Date:     Thursday 12th, 19th, 26th November & 3rd December 2026
Time:     7.00 - 8.00 pm
Venue:  Online via Zoom

Target Audience: Primary Teachers and SNAs

This four-part webinar series explores Persistent Drive for Autonomy (PDA) through a number of interconnected lenses.

Rather than focusing only on the demand avoidance or behaviour we can see, the series looks at what may be happening underneath: the pressure a person is experiencing, the demands being placed on their nervous system, and the different things that can influence their capacity in that moment.

Across the four sessions, we will explore PDA alongside executive functioning, Gestalt Language Processing, sensory processing and regulation, considering how each of these can shape the way demands are experienced and responded to.

The aim is not to find better ways to make a PDAer comply. It is to understand the person more deeply, recognise what is making something difficult and think about how we can reduce pressure while protecting autonomy.

Session 1 – Understanding PDA

The first session introduces Persistent Drive for Autonomy and explores what a PDA profile can look like in everyday life.

We will look beyond demand avoidance itself and consider why things that may appear simple or manageable from the outside can feel very different for a PDAer.

Why can being asked to do something suddenly make it feel impossible? Why can something a person genuinely wants to do become much harder as soon as there is an expectation attached to it? Why might capacity change so significantly from one moment, environment or relationship to another?

We will explore demands, autonomy, nervous-system responses and capacity, and consider why understanding the experience behind the behaviour is so important.

This session provides the foundation for the rest of the series and introduces a different way of thinking about PDA: not simply asking what a person is doing, but becoming curious aboutwhy it is difficult for them in that moment.

Session 2 – PDA and Executive Functioning

This session explores PDA through an executive functioning lens.

We will look at areas such as initiation, planning, working memory, attention, cognitive flexibility, inhibition and shifting between tasks, and consider how differences in executive functioning can add another layer of pressure to everyday demands.

A PDAer may completely understand what is expected. They may genuinely want to do it. That does not necessarily mean their brain and nervous system have the capacity to begin, organise or move through the task at that moment.

We will consider the difference betweenunderstanding a demand and having the capacity to act on it, and why this distinction is so important.

The session will also explore ways of reducing executive functioning load, including predictability, modelling, shared action and reducing the number of things a person has to work out independently when their capacity is already stretched.

Rather than seeing difficulty initiating or completing a task as unwillingness, we will explore what happens when we ask:

How much is this person’s brain being asked to hold, organise and manage right now?

Session 3 – PDA and Gestalt Language Processing

This session explores PDA through a Gestalt Language Processing (GLP) lens and looks at the relationship between language, communication, autonomy and demands.

This is an area that has been particularly important in developing my own understanding of PDA, both personally and professionally.

We will consider how language processing differences can influence the way information is understood, how quickly someone can respond, how easily they can access language under pressure and how communication itself can sometimes become another demand.

We will explore why seemingly supportive questions, explanations or choices do not always reduce pressure, and why the amount of spoken language we use can matter just as much as the words themselves.

The session will look at ways we can make communication more predictable and reduce processing demands, while recognising that every PDAer’s communication needs will be different.

The focus is not on finding a particular set of “PDA-friendly phrases”, but on understanding how our communication is being experienced by the individual in front of us.

Session 4 – PDA, Sensory Processing & Regulation

The final session explores PDA through a sensory processing and regulation lens.

We will look at how sensory load, the environment and nervous-system regulation can significantly influence a PDAer’s capacity to manage demands.

Noise, movement, touch, lighting, busy environments, transitions, internal body sensations and the cumulative sensory load of a day can all affect how much capacity a person has available.

A demand that is manageable in one moment may feel completely different when the nervous system is already carrying significant sensory or cognitive load.

We will explore how sensory regulation can be supported proactively, rather than only being introduced once someone is already overwhelmed, and consider the importance of providing accessible regulation opportunities without turning those supports into another expectation.

We will also look at modelling regulation, predictable cause-and-effect sensory experiences and creating environments where movement, sensory input and stepping away are genuinely available.

The focus throughout will be on understandingregulation and capacity first, and adapting the environment and expectations around the person accordingly.

Across the Series

Across the four sessions, we will bring these different lenses together to build a more holistic understanding of PDA.

Demand avoidance does not happen in isolation.

Autonomy, executive functioning, language processing, sensory processing, regulation, relationships, environment and previous experiences can all interact to influence what a person is able to manage at a particular moment.

When we only look at the behaviour, we miss so much of what is happening underneath it.

Instead of asking:

“Why won’t they?”

I want us to become curious about:

“What is making this difficult for this person right now?”

and

“What can we change around them to reduce the pressure and support their autonomy and capacity?”

Bio of Presenter: Sorcha Rice

Sorcha Rice is a Senior Occupational Therapist with a Masters in Occupational Therapy from the University of Limerick. She has extensive experience supporting neurodivergent children and young people in clinical, educational, and community settings. Sorcha is also autistic with a PDA profile, and draws on both professional expertise and lived experience to deliver training that is deeply informed, practical, and compassionate.

She specialises in child-led, trauma-informed and neurodiversity-affirming practice, helping families, educators, and professionals to reframe behaviour through sensory, relational and environmental lenses.