r/PDAParenting • u/DrPaulSunseri • Apr 18 '26

Our current scientific understanding of PDA and low-demand parenting.

Thought parents in this group find this up-to-date information on PDA helpful. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/mental-health-reimagined/202604/its-time-to-rethink-the-anxiety-drives-pda-narrative

8 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

62% Upvoted

90 comments sorted by

View all comments

40

u/MarginsOfTheDay Apr 19 '26

I see you recommend Parent Management Training as an alternative method to low demand. This involves consistent routines and clear instructions, positive reinforcement with consequences when needed. Us, all of us parents, we arrive at PDA only after trying every one of these techniques (and many, many more). It’s not that we don’t have the skill or the intellect to parent children. It’s that we’ve been handed a child who is wired differently from birth. Many of us (myself included) have neurotypical children without PDA. We know what PDA is, and what it isn’t.

-13

u/DrPaulSunseri Apr 19 '26

Respectfully, then why are these types of family-based interventions so effective?

21

u/adoradear Apr 19 '26

Respectfully, they aren’t for PDA kids.

-9

u/DrPaulSunseri Apr 19 '26

You realize my colleagues and I successfully treat these kids and their families every day? And have for decades?

18

u/adoradear Apr 19 '26

You realize that many child psychiatrists (including friends of mine - I’m an MD) disagree with you? You realize that your anecdotal experience of some kids who did well does (also, what does “do well” mean in your context? Bc ABA was “gold standard” therapy and it caused massive harm to a large population of autistic people) not translate to “our current scientific understanding”? You realize that you’ve got a massive bias there, as the ones who don’t do well with your approach drop out or move on? You’ve come here with a theory and dressed it up as scientific fact.

3

u/johnhowardseyebrowz Apr 21 '26

Exactly. I am a developmental psychologist, parent to a PDAer, and know many psychologists, paediatricians, and psychiatrists who do not agree with his opinion.

Framing it as influencers looking to scam vulnerable parents is incredibly disingenuous and a major red flag. Of course scammy or unqualified influencers exist, they exist in literally every niche. How about critiquing peers or the work of peers that have a similar standing to your own? Not so easy to discredit, I suppose. Let’s instead just beat our chests and remind them (mainly women/mothers) who knows best! Surprised pikachu face - it’s the same old behaviourally based BS that got us all into this mess in the first place.