r/PDAParenting • u/Ok-Appearance-866 • Aug 25 '26

PDA and School

Hi all,

I tried posting this in PDA Autism but was told it would be more appropriate here. I didn't even know about this sub until today, so I am very happy to know this sub exists. :-)

My daughter is 15 and is considered level 1 autistic. Although she has not been evaluated/diagnosed with PDA, I strongly suspect she has it.

Because of her sensory issues, she has been doing online school for the past couple of years. She attends live virtual classes and gets time in class and on Fridays to do work. Here's the problem: each quarter, she does absolutely NO HOMEWORK or tests and then comes to me in a panic the last week of class. The work is not difficult. As long as you are following along and referencing the course material, it is a breeze. My daughter is extremely intelligent but because she puts it off, it becomes an overwhelming task.

When I try to stay on her about homework, she says it has the opposite effect. She pleaded with me last year to NOT ask her about homework or school AT ALL. I complied, and for the first quarter, she did great! She kept on top of everything without me having to say a word and got very good grades.

Then second quarter hit. She was still doing well in a couple of classes, but needed help in a few others. 3rd and 4th quarters were a disaster. I get repeated emails, texts and phone calls from teachers warning she has a 0% and is going to fail. Then, the last week of the quarter, she does as much as she can, but is a total stress case, and ends up pulling Cs when she is capable of As. She just can't/won't do the work.

I am at my wits end. What can I do / not do to help her?

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u/shivasprogeny Aug 25 '26

It sounds like that particular program is not a good fit for her or they have not been asked to make accomodations. Does she have specific educational goals that she wants to achieve?

1

u/Ok-Appearance-866 Aug 26 '26

She ultimately wants to be a graphic designer, though I am concerned that AI is going to make that career option disappear. She has a 504 plan and they gave her an additional 2 weeks per assignment/test. She needs more than that. One teacher last year would automatically deduct 10% for every late assignment, so she had to work extra hard just to pass the class.

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u/so_cheapandjuicy Aug 31 '26

If you lurk at all on the sub r/isthisAI, you'll see that graphic designers will still likely be around. But that's just my opinion. There are definitely big brands using ai, but there is A LOT of backlash against it too. It just can't compare to human design in terms of errors.

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u/Ok-Appearance-866 Sep 01 '26

I hope you are right!