Rabbi Shoshana's Blog

Jul 144 min read

What are common strengths of Autistic PDAers?

What are common strengths of Autistic PDAers, and how does cultural context help us answer this question?

Jun 305 min read

How 'high status' roles can help with PDA Autistic social anxiety

Learn how high status social roles can help PDA Autistics participate in social activities.

Jun 16 min read

How do I talk about mental health with my child or teen? P.S. this framing is helpful for adults, too...

How do I talk about mental health with my child or teen?

May 189 min read

How unlimited screen time works in our home & how I recommend parents approach screens with PDA kids & teens

How unlimited screentime works in our home and how I recommend PDA parents approach screen usage for their kids.

Apr 145 min read

What is PDA? Well, PDA Autism is NOT...

by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman What is PDA? PDA stands for Pathological Demand Avoidance, or Pervasive Drive for Autonomy. In the UK...

Apr 35 min read

Can PDA Kids Love School? Yes - I did. But the conditions were particular.

My child and I are both Autistic and PDA. PDA stands for Pathological Demand Avoidance, or Pervasive Drive for Autonomy. Understanding of...

Mar 146 min read

7 Powerful Mindset Shifts for Educators of PDA students

by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman PDA stands for Pathological Demand Avoidance or Pervasive Drive for Autonomy, a little-known profile of...

Mar 67 min read

What is the difference between "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" and Pathological Demand Avoidance?

by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman I’m getting questions from educators & parents about how to tell if a defiant child or student is ODD or...

Feb 165 min read

How do internalized PDA'ers assert control or "equalize"?

by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman I am what is known in the PDA community as an internalized PDAer. In this post, I explain what that...

Feb 133 min read

8 Ways to Support an Autistic Child Infatuated with an Adult Outside the Home

by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman These suggestions stem from my own experience as an Autistic person who has been in and out of limerence...

Feb 35 min read

Autistic Limerence: The risks of when a person is a special interest

by Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman What is Limerence? Limerence is one name for infatuation with another person. It is not a regular crush....