At Peace Parents Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Ep. 35 - 6 Tips for Making Halloween More Manageable for your Family. Oct 24, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, we discuss why the Halloween - and the holidays - are so tough on PDA children and teens, as well as their parents, and I offer some tips to help you get through the beginning of what we call "The Gauntlet" in my family (the period between Halloween and my son's bday in January).

Remember - it's not you! It's totally normal to dread these times of the year because of societal demands and expectations!

I hope this podcast episode serves you.

To connect with me, find me here:

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,

Casey

Ep. 34 - The fawn and freeze responses Oct 23, 2023

Show notes

In this episode Casey talks about the fawn and freeze responses to nervous system activation.

To connect with me, find me here:

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,

Casey

Ep. 33 - Behavioral approaches and why they don't work Oct 17, 2023

Show notes

Casey discusses why behavioral approaches don't work for PDA children and teens.

To connect with me, find me here:

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,

Casey

Ep. 32 - Is therapy good for PDA kids? Oct 09, 2023

Show notes

Casey talks about therapy for PDA children.

To connect with me, find me here:

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,

Casey

Ep. 31 - What does it look like long term if we don't correct our children's "bad behavior"? Oct 02, 2023

Show notes

This episode explores what I call "The Theory of Change" of parenting a Pathologically Demand Avoidant (PDA) child or teen through an accommodation approach over the long term (years!).

We talk about the logic behind lowering demands and making choices that feel counterintuitive as a parent to support your child back into their "thinking brain."

We also discuss radical acceptance and what that means day-to-day as a parent as a PDA child or teen.

To connect with me, find me here:

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,

Casey

Ep. 30 - Have you "radically accepted" your PDA child or teen? Sep 27, 2023

Show notes

This episode discusses what it *actually* looks like to radically accept your PDA child or teen.

For many parents this is where the rubber hits the road and it is less about a nebulous or theoretical "acceptance" of a neurodivergent child, and more about the points at which we have to accept that raising a child with a nervous system disability requires tradeoffs to our lifestyle, letting go of certain expectations we had for our lives, and cost-benefit decision-making within constraints.

I hope it serves you. To connect with me, find me here:

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,

Casey

Ep. 29 - Can you "heal" Pathological Demand Avoidance? Sep 18, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, we discuss the difference between trauma and Pathological Demand Avoidance, as well as the overlaps in terms of your child's or teen's behavior.

We talk about how you can heal trauma, however you cannot heal a neurotype, but rather accommodate it through trauma-informed parenting and practices.

Sometimes, as parents, we don't know where the line is between trauma and neurotype, so we have to be consistent in connection and accommodations and observe our own data about your child or teen over time.

I hope this episode serves you!

To connect with me, find me here:

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,

Casey

Ep. 28 - OCD, Anxiety or PDA? Sep 08, 2023

Show notes

This episode is designed to do three things:

Give you clarity on how to figure out the root cause of your child's controlling and avoidant behavior - Is it Anxiety, OCD and/or Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)?
Help you notice subtle differences in controlling and avoidant behavior to determine if there is more than one thing going on.
Encourage you to startobserving and tracking your chlid or teen's unique "indicators" (Basic Needs access, Connection and Trust with you, and Nervous System Stress) over the long term so you can make decisions about what type of approach is more supportive of your family (Exposure vs. Accommodation).

Happy Listening!

To connect with me, find me here:

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,

Casey

ps. Here is the link if you are interested in getting on the waitlist for the the next cohort of the Paradigm Shift Program.

Citations:

Polyvagal Theory steven Porges
The Polyvagal Theory: Neurophysiological Foundations of Emotions, Attachment, Communication, and Self-regulation (Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology)
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma (Good explanation of what happens to our bodies when we go into "fight or flight." Helpful for understanding the PDA child's experience)
What happened to you (Oprah and Dr. Perry)
The Whole-Brain child
Beyond Behaviors: Using Brain Science and Compassion to Understand and Solve Children's Behavioral Challenges
Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear and Heal your Mind.

Ep. 27 - Is My Child PDA or Autistic with Demand Avoidance? Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

"Is my child Autistic with Demand Avoidance OR is my child PDA?"

This is a question I get often from parents, so this is a free training to help you discern the answer that question for yourself. We will cover:

Figuring out which "lens" is most helpful to support your unique child and the root cause of the behaviors you observe.
Understanding that it is not an "either/or" or binary situation where PDA kids don't have social communication differences or that non-PDA autistic children and teens don't need autonomy and have sensitive nervous systems.
Patterns I have observed that help you distinguish for yourself whether your child is PDA.
Patterns I have observed among the 100s of parents I work with whose children or teens are indeed PDA.
An invitation to take an experimental approach and collect data on *your* unique child.

I hope it serves you!

To connect with me, find me here:

For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC

Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.

xoxo,

Casey

Ep. 26 - What is the difference between PDA and trauma? Jun 15, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, I answer this very commonly asked question: What is the difference between PDA and trauma?
As part of my answer, I discuss five things:
1. Why there is so much confusion between PDA and trauma.
2. Why there are different root causes behind similar nervous system activation.
3. Where there are points of overlap between PDA and trauma.
4. Different approaches to supporting them.
5. What we don't know yet about healing vs. accommodating a neurotype vs. neuroplasticity and where your child will land.
Citations:
"What Happened to You: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing," by Bruce Perry, MD, Ph.D. and Oprah Winfrey
"The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel van der Kolk
"Harnessing Electrochemicals to Treat Disorders Arising from Traumatic Stress" by Ronald Ruden (2019: 223)

To connect with me, find me here:
Instagram
TikTok
Facebook
YouTube
For more resources for parents, including #actuallyautistic pages to check out and a list of PDA-affirming practitioners in North America, check out the resources page at PDA Parents.
For Courses, Programs, Coaching and Consulting, find me at At Peace Parents, LLC
Thanks for listening! You are an amazing parent.
xoxo,
Casey

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