At Peace Parents Podcast

This episode is for parents who are interested in toilet training in a PDA-informed way. This the third episode in my three-part series on toileting and Pathological Demand Avoidance. In this episode I cover toilet/potty training with your PDA child or teen. Specifically, I cover the following: Is my child or teen in a good place for toilet training? Story of toilet training my older son before I...

In this episode, I spoke to a grandmother raising her 8-year-old PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance / Pervasive Drive for Autonomy) Autistic grandson who she had been homeschooling for a year-and-a-half after school trauma in first grade. We discussed: - Helping her grandson attend an in-person appointment with the pediatrician, so he could get a refill of his medication. - The different approache...

This is my second of three episodes about toileting and PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance or Pervasive Drive for Autonomy). This episode is focused on what to do if your child has challenges with: 1 - Wiping 2 - Accidents 3 - Holding and constipation 4 - Pooping outside the toilet 5 - Peeing outside the toilet Of course, I'm talking through taking a PDA/nervous system approach to helping your chi...

This is my first of three episodes about toileting and PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance or Pervasive Drive for Autonomy). This episode is focused on how to think about toileting over the long term with your PDA child or teen. Specifically, I talk through: 1 - Your questions in the following categories: wiping, holding and constipation, potty training, going outside the toilet, and accidents 2 -...

In this episode I spoke with a mom of a 4-year-old PDAer (Pathological Demand Avoidant) and a 10-month-old baby living in an apartment in Scotland. She had just learned about PDA one month ago and had already made huge and brave changes in her home and parenting to support he son. We discussed: - How to start making a parenting paradigm shift if you are new to PDA. - The importance of an experimen...

Sorcha Rice is an occupational therapist and the clinical manager of Neurodiversity Ireland, who I met at their 1st conference last year. She identifies as AuDHD and PDA and spoke with me about how she understands and experiences PDA, what her childhood and teen years were like before she was diagnosed, going through burnout and recovery, how she manages her nervous system now, and some of the pra...

In this episode I speak with a mom of a six-year-old PDAer who wouldn't eat or drink and was extremely dysregulated during a holiday because of a loose tooth. We discussed: 1 - how internal demands and losses of autonomy like losing a tooth matter as much as external demands. 2 - the importance of understanding PDA as a fluctuating nervous system disability. 3 - creative ideas for deepening accomm...

Here's part 2 of my episode on the 10 hardest lessons I learned in 2025. They include: 6 - Your PDA child can go into burnout even if you're fully accommodating them. 7 - Burnout can feel like you are making no progress, especially with an internalizer. 8 - Screens can be a wonderful thing. 9 - Your kids will surprise you. 10 - Spirituality sustained me. xoxo, Casey

Happy New Year! I'm kicking off 2026 by sharing the 10 hardest lessons I learned parenting my PDAers (often the hard way) in 2025. The first five are in this episode: 1 - There are some things in life you can't outsource 2 - The key to sanity is accepting constraints and finding agency within them 3 - Doubt about PDA is the antidote to dogma 4 - The importance of trusting yourself in the face of j...

In this episode I talk with a mom about her 7-year-old daughter - with PDA, ADHD and anxiety - about when she might help her build her frustration tolerance, and when she likely cannot. We also dive in on a specific challenge she was facing when her both her daughters need support at the same time. The conversation is from Parenting PDA Your Way, the show we stream live on our Facebook, Instagram...

In this episode I speak with a mom of a PDA 14-year-old who regulates himself by wrestling his father after school each day, which causes Mom lots of anxiety. Together we use my cost-benefit decision making tool to weigh her options and she then decides a new strategy to try. We talked about the option of her leaving the house while the wrestling happens. And we talked through letting go of contro...

In this episode I speak with a mother of a PDA teen about: Setting boundaries when other kids are involved Making decisions in public when you are being judged Helping young siblings understand the PDA threat response. The episode is from Parenting PDA Your Way, the show we stream live most Fridays on our Instagram, Facebook, YouTube accounts. xoxo, Casey

In this episode I spoke with clinical psychologist Alex Klein about considerations when thinking about getting an evaluation for Autism or PDA as an adult my own neurodivergence doing therapy as a neurodivergent adult getting an evaluation and therapy for your PDA child or teen I hope you find it helpful! xo, Casey

In this episode I speak with a mom about a time her daughter melted down and then wouldn't allow Mom to step away and take the pause she needed to regulate herself to be able to support her daughter. These situations are so tough - and sometimes there is nothing you can do but endure them - and so in this conversation we talked about how to find meaning in this parenting experience. This podcast e...

In this episode I speak with a mom about her PDA daughter, who pinches and scratches Mom as she is falling asleep. It's a recording of Parenting PDA Your Way, the show I host live on our YouTube and Facebook most Fridays at 1pm ET. I hope it's helpful to you! xo, Casey

In this episode, I coach a mom of a nine-year-old PDA son who fixates on visiting the neighbors' houses the moment they get home from anywhere, and cannot move on when their kids are unavailable. We work through why this is happening through the PDA lens, what part of the brain is driving it, and why teaching social norms has not been enough to change the behavior. Then we go through the full cost...

Samantha's 13-year-old PDA daughter wants to buy things all the time, and gets dysregulated when her parents say "no." It's a common and difficult problem for many parents of PDA children and teens, and in this week's episode I talk it through with Samantha. The episode is a recording of Parenting PDA Your Way, the show I host live on our YouTube and Facebook most Fridays at 1pm ET. I hope it's he...

In this episode I talk through how I've come to realize my second son is also PDA - with a more internalized expression than my first - and how the process has been both similar and different from the first time. I hope it's helpful for you :)

In today's episode I speak with Megan, the mother of an 8-year-old PDAer who equalizes against her sibling on the walk to school. Megan comes up with something to try for a couple weeks to see if it's helpful. I hope the conversation is helpful for you, too :)

In this episode I talk with Carrie - mother of a 12-year-old PDAer - about how to support her son when he gets dysregulated by not knowing what to do during free time - especially after school and on weekends.

In this episode I coach Lierin as she navigates the equalizing her 5-year-old daughter does against her 8-year-old sister. Specifically we discuss how to help the older daughter understand PDA and the "unfairness" it brings about.

Sometimes our PDA children equalize against us and it triggers us - perhaps because of our own neurodivergence, childhood trauma, or other challenges. In this episode of the podcast - from our new live show - I coach Christine through such a situation with her PDA daughter. I hope it's helpful for you <3

This episode is a conversation with Dominique, mother of a 4-year-old PDAer who equalizes against her 2-year-old. Dominique also has a third child, and joined our live show - Parenting PDA Your Way - to talk through how to handle these situations. I hope you find our conversation helpful. xo, Casey

In this episode I work with Megan, a mom who is frustrated that what other adults think about her parenting impacts her, and unsure if this is an obstacle to radical acceptance of her child's PDA. Thank you Megan for sharing your story to help other families. I know many of us can relate! Also, this is the first podcast episode where I share the coaching conversations I'm doing on my new show: "Pa...

As parents of PDA children and teens we do a ton of work to support and heal the nervous systems of our kids, often at the expense of our own (also sensitive) nervous systems. So for this episode I invited Afshan Tafler, a nervous system expert, to speak with me. We talked about: The impact on a parent's nervous system of raising a PDA child or teen Why we get into fixing mode Some tools to suppor...