Following a meeting at school, they've just told us that they think our son (14) has PDA. The quick look I've had does seem to link the symptoms of PDA with my son's behaviour.
Does anyone have any experience or advice (apart from shed needs painting / logos not aligned)
Thanks
Bump for the Monday morning crew
We've got a 15 year old son, diagnosed with Aspergers but showing all the classic signs of PDA, and now back out of mainstream education.
I'm guessing that the school will be refering your son to the educational pyschologist or the local [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Child_and_Adolescent_Mental_Health_Services ]CAMHS[/url] for proper diagnosis.
The [url= http://www.autism.org.uk/ ]NAS[/url] helpline might be a good point of reference. They also ran an article about PDA in one of their recent membership magazines.
Good luck.
Wow, have a son with ASD and never heard of PDA (in that context).
Must look it up..
Wow - symptom seem very similar to my 12YO daughter, who they can't decide a true diagnosis on (her elder sister has formal diagnosis HFA & OCD)
our own internal family diagnosis is currently labelled 'lastworditis'...
Lessons I've learnt are that a school or clinicians working presumption are a long, long way from a formal diagnosis, particularly on anything 'spectrum' related and thats something you might struggle for some time to get through the system - took a good couple of years to get to that point with eldest, and that was only due to the priority allocated due to her self harming.
Also spectrum diagnoses, particularly at the higher level are a huge mish mash of contra-indicating and co-morbid symptoms that are difficult to formally diagnose, hence the reining in of 'aspergers' as a diagnosis rather than HFA
advice to you would be, referral to CAMHS - but don't be too surprised if they do some initial work then kick the can down the road to await further developments - the cynical interpretation being that they will wait a while to see if it sorts itself out without intervention. Prepare for a long road. local support groups are very good, particularly for kids that age and depending on your county you might find lots of local support activities for both kids and parents. consider an application for DLA which would assist with some of the costs of working on it (travelling to support groups etc)
What difficulties have you had with him?
We've had all sorts. At school he doesn't fit in to normal lessons - arguing his case with the teacher - then getting sweary, refusal to wear uniform correctly, persistent lateness - the sort of stuff that would drive the teachers mad. He's now in something they call Alternative Provision which is their special unit for disruptive kids - but doesn't fit in there as most of the kids in there are 'not the sharpest tool' and he is quiet bright. He struggled as his predictive grades were high and the teachers were putting loads of pressure on him. At home we've had jeckel and hyde type - some days lovely others a complete pita.
Usual threats don't seem to work (removal of tv / xbox / grounded etc) don't make a difference to him stopping the behaviour at the time - if you continue to ... then we'll remove ... just don't work.
We found this which seems to describe a lot of his personality traits.
[url= http://www.newsonline.ltd.uk/pages/pda_files/PDA_Booklet.pdf ]really useful info[/url]
He seems to also go through phases which in the past we'd put down to hormones.
All really interesting - tell me, how does he cope with success/positive feedback? For example my D is very much top of top set maths/english/science - and when she's succeeding, she really thrives on it, in fact is very competitive - but if she gets a knock back then she very much releases at home - do you find that if he's coping well at school, he's offloading stress/mega combative at home, and vice versa?
Definitley found that with both girls the threat of removal/loss of privileges doesn't work - in fact it only ramps up the anger for youngest, you get an endless cycle of the stakes getting higher.
social workers were completely flummoxed when their 'perfect parenting lessons' got nowhere
personal organisation/ability to do homework ok?
(youngest is complete admin vortex, eldest ocd with it, so does thousand word essay where she only needed a paragraph) ?
how about getting dressed/hygiene and going to school?
(youngest I frequently have to physically dress, have to either bribe or force her into the shower, can't get her to wash hands after toilet unless make her (the water hurts her hands) - Periods/pads etc very difficult as she forgets to change them (yuk) oldest is the opposite
so, you can see there's some rather large variations in how ASD can present itself... Definitley seems from what you've said above that its possible and if its been going on for some time then less likely just to be teenage hormones - CAMHS is defo your first point of referral, but as I warned, expect it to be drawn out.
What are the School proposing to help him? or are they passing the buck?
Is he violent at home with you/mum when for ex. he doesn't get his way? that can tend to ramp up the priority CAMHS give it. Any siblings at risk or exposure to his behaviour?
Edit - CAMHS sessions have revealed my daughter talking about her anger as like a volcano - if she doesn't vent it then it builds up into an explosion, so a lot of her stuff is the venting/seeping through to the surface - does your son have any positive outlets? particularly physical ones? (e.g. judo/cycling/running/boxing?)
At school he was in top sets but got moved down due to not doing the work / behaviour.
Not sure what school are proposing yet they only mentioned PDA after the meeting last friday when he wasn't the most co-operative.
Praise does work to an extent and he wants to please. Hygiene is fine - showers most days.
He has been violent when he gets angry but not for a while. A while ago at home we took the decision to try and make it a happy place for him when it was obvious he was so unhappy at school. So he has a mostly good relationship with both me and mum.
I know there is a scale of symptoms and he definitely has some but not all so we're new to all this and slowly finding our way.
I think school did suggest getting in a behavioural psychologist (I think??) or going to the GP - but I can't see how getting him to a GP will work as he won't want to go.
He did see CAMHS a couple of years ago but didn't want to talk to them and at the time it was seen as only helpful if he was willing to talk.
At the moment we're just trying to gather info about PDA and how best to help him.
scale of symptoms and he definitely has some but not all
Yes, from what I've seen thats common - its a 'totality' rather than ticking all the boxes.