PDA North America - Pathological Demand Avoidance

02/12/2026

For PDA children, showing love in a traditional sense can feel unsafe to their fragile nervous system. PDAers often show love through trust, safety, and authenticity, not compliance or performance.

If a PDA child seeks your presence, trusts you with their dysregulation, or allows themselves to be fully themselves with you, that is love in its purest form.

If you’re feeling lonely this Valentine’s Day, we invite you to join the hundreds of other parents looking to connect with families carving the same path to create emotional safety for their PDA child at the PDA North America Conference in a few short weeks.

Comment PDA LOVE and we’ll send you the link for more information. 💛

02/12/2026

💛 PANS, PANDAS & Neurodivergence – Now Available to Watch

If you missed our live session, it’s now available on-demand in the PDA North America Learning Lab.

Helen Edgar and Laura Hellfeld share lived experience and professional insights to help parents, caregivers, and educators navigate PANS/PANDAS with compassion and understanding. Practical strategies for home and school are included!

🎥 Watch anytime: https://buff.ly/KAHzWJI

💡 Supporting children with PANS/PANDAS alongside neurodivergence can be tricky—but you don’t have to figure it out alone.

02/10/2026

New in the Learning Lab:
Supporting People at the Intersection of Gender Diversity and Autism with Cathy Hanville, LCSW

What happens when gender diversity and autism intersect? This self-paced webinar explores exactly that.

Join Cathy Hanville, LCSW, as she covers:

🌈 Key terms and concepts in the transgender and gender-diverse (TGD) community
🧩 The overlap between gender diversity and autism
📚 Current research and common challenges
🤝 Practical strategies for offering support with empathy, respect, and understanding

Whether you're a professional, parent, or simply want to be a better ally, this session will deepen your insight and expand your toolkit.

🎥 Learn at your own pace: https://buff.ly/I0lPv1D

02/10/2026

When your body feels unsafe, everything feels harder—especially with PDA.

On Thursday, February 19th at 7:00PM CST, Physical Therapist, Shelley Kleinman, is offering a PDA-affirming webinar focused on working with your body instead of against it.

No compliance.
No “power through.”
No one-size-fits-all solutions.

Just practical, self-directed tools to help ease stress in the body—whether it shows up as anxiety, digestion issues, sleep disruption, breathing challenges, or chronic tension.

💛 Designed for PDAers, parents, and professionals who value autonomy and nervous system care.

🎟️ Save your spot: https://buff.ly/iMXyo2x

02/09/2026

We hear time and again that one of the toughest things about PDA is that there isn’t enough awareness and understanding. For many PDAers and their families this means constantly explaining yourself to everyone in your life, it means struggling to find any support, and it can mean feeling completely alone if you haven’t connected with any PDA communities.

For PDA Awareness Week (May 11-17) we're partnering with (UK) to build a connection between PDAers all over the globe. With your help, we're going to create an interactive map which PDAers can add to from wherever they are in the world.

💬 📍 Comment "PDA day map" and we'll send you the link to add yourself to the map! 🗺️

When you fill out the form you'll have a chance to answer a few questions about yourself. You don't need to provide any personal information, and can use a pseudonym if you prefer.

You'll be there when we launch the map for PDA Week 2026 (11th - 17th May), along with everyone else who has taken part from across the world.

As more and more people are to coming home to their neurodivergence, this is our way of saying that PDAers are everywhere.

You are not alone. You belong. We see you.

02/09/2026

💥 Now Live on the PDA Learning Lab! 💥
Part 2 of Keri Schouten’s PDA Communication Series is officially available to watch.

Adult PDAer and PDA Parenting Coach Keri Schouten is back with another 2-hour PDANA Training, PDA Communication: Co-Regulatory Conflict with PDA Individuals—a deep dive into why certain moments with your PDA child feel impossible to navigate and what truly helps.

✨ What you’ll learn:

How to reduce power struggles
What co-regulation looks like in real PDA life
Ways to strengthen safety, connection, and collaboration
Practical insights only an adult PDAer can offer

💡 Recommended: Watch Part 1 first if you haven’t already.

▶️ Start Part 2 now: https://learn.pdanorthamerica.org/products/courses/PDA-Communication-Part-2-Co-regulatory-Conflict

▶️ Missed Part 1? Find it here: https://buff.ly/XRnd7CY

02/07/2026

"The Art of Resistance: PDA & Refusing to Perform

What if “noncompliance” isn’t a problem to fix — but a truth to honor?

Join Alex McLaughlin (they/them) — a Q***r, multiracial, disabled AuDHDer and PDAer — for a thought-provoking webinar on how PDAers naturally resist systems of control, performance, and oppression.

We’re diving into how PDA challenges:
🚫 neuronormativity
🚫 cis/heteronormativity
🚫 sanism
🚫 white supremacy
🚫 capitalism

This session is for anyone curious about PDA as more than a diagnosis — but as a radical, liberatory way of being.

✨ Real talk. Big truth. Deep validation.

🎥 A no-demand webinar: watch anytime that works for you.
👉 Access the replay now in the Learning Lab: https://buff.ly/kOyQrlH

02/06/2026

The PDA North America Conference is where understanding replaces judgment, autonomy replaces control, and people finally feel like they belong. As one attendee said:

"This conference was the first time as a parent that I felt safe in ALL my choices to support my PDA child. Safe to talk openly about my struggles and feel seen and heard in a way I never have before. Without judgement, without fear, and without hesitation. I showed up as a stranger and left with a whole community of people who understand my experience and get it. I will be back every year!" - Parent of PDA Child & 2025 Conference Attendee

If you want more information, please comment "conference" down below. We go LIVE on Feb 27th!

02/06/2026

We are just four weeks away from our 7th Annual PDA Conference and wanted to send a special thanks to our Gold Sponsor - Lofty Angels.

We are incredibly grateful to Lofty Angels for their generous support of the 2026 PDANA Conference.

Your commitment to empowering meaningful connection, community, and growth has helped make the PDA North America Conference possible. We truly appreciate your belief in our mission and your partnership in driving positive impact for families and professionals navigating PDA.
Thank you for standing with us — we couldn’t do this without you! 💛

Have you gotten your tickets yet? Comment "Conference" and our little robot friend will DM you the direct link!

(PS If you're wanting to attend virtually but the price feels inaccessible? PLEASE contact us! We provide unlimited virtual sponsorships to all! No one has EVER been turned away from one of our events. If you want to be here - we want you here. No questions asked. 💛 email info@pdanorthamerica.org

02/06/2026

Does your PDA child go to a PDA-affirming school? Or have you found a PDA-affirming educational program, or online school/program you want to share?

Please fill out this form and it will be placed on a PDA-Affirming Education list on the PDANA website! 💛

We appreciate your interest in being on our PDA-affirming Education/Educators list. By filling out this form you are agreeing to have your information listed in our PDA-Affirming Education List. This list is for ANY educational service being provided to PDAers that is neurodiverse affirming/PDA affi...

02/06/2026

Joining us this morning for PDA Training for Therapists? Just a reminder that we're beginning at 10:00AM CST, not 10:30AM!

If you'd still like to join, ticket sales are still live: https://buff.ly/zMgvdfb

02/06/2026

💛 True friendships for Caregivers of neurodivergent kids aren’t luxuries—they’re lifelines.

Join Megan Champion for a PDA North America webinar on March 19 at 7 PM CST to explore how safe vulnerability and deep connections can protect mental health and fight burnout.

✨ Caregivers feel better when we have each other.

🎟 Register: https://buff.ly/SBVs3Y