When looking on Etsy for posters the other day (don’t ask), I came across a 1950s advertisement with the words “Go to work on an egg”. This simple slogan conjures up the morning ritual of boiling an egg for breakfast - a process so easy that anyone can learn to do it.
But for children who suffer from pathological demand avoidance (PDA), this sort of process can be anything but easy.
The term “PDA” was coined by Professor Elizabeth Newson in the 1980s. The group of children it describes experience chronic anxiety about demands made upon them, whether those are real or perceived, and find school environments challenging. They are commonly identified as being on the autistic spectrum - although this is controversial, as there is a lack of research on PDA.
While PDA is still not widely understood, the number of children who are expressing anxiety in school after the pandemic has brought it to the awareness of more people. There is growing recognition that adopting teaching strategies and behaviours to reduce stress for these children can support all pupils to better respond to the increased demands of the curriculum and the classroom.
More teaching and learning:
Funnily enough, when TV presenter Jay Blades recently spoke about inclusion at the Association of School and College Leaders’ conference, he used the example of boiling an egg to illustrate just how complex learning can be.
He asked the audience to imagine explaining the process of boiling an egg to an alien, who had absolutely no prior knowledge of it.
By calling out the steps, the audience quickly established that the alien would need a kitchen, an egg, water, hob, timer and so on. But in the details - what kind of tap, which utensils, how much water, what gas, the heat level, how long, what size of spoon - it became clear that there were actually a whopping 41 tasks to complete before cracking the egg open and eating it.
The effects of pathological demand avoidance
Now, consider pupils who struggle with task demands. They will find it impossible to hold multiple steps in their head when flooded with worry. Add to this poor cognitive function or auditory issues, and we can begin to see how hard it is for children with cooccurring needs to regulate their anxiety.
Simply saying “go to work on an egg” isn’t enough; you have to explain each step through a range of techniques. Modelling, scaffolding and explaining the metacognitive processes of how we learn can all help.
Using positive reinforcement, offering choice, using clear and concise language and giving time to process information are good tactics, too, as is using visual aids.
In addition, teaching should be adaptive enough to avoid rigidity and allow routines to flex, giving pupils some control over their learning while accommodating their individual needs.
Ultimately, teachers need to better understand the concept of demand avoidance and how it affects different individuals; they need to learn to recognise the specific triggers that exacerbate anxiety and avoidance behaviour.
More research is needed to support teachers in this. But one thing we can no longer avoid is acknowledging that inclusive teaching benefits everyone.
By adapting our teaching for children with acute anxiety, we can unburden the anxiety of all pupils.
Margaret Mulholland is the special educational needs and inclusion specialist at the Association of School and College Leaders
