ARFID Support

Helping you and your family to live a full life with a restricted diet.

[Laura Kerbey @LauraKerbey]

When supporting PDAers, it's absolutely essential to remember that demand avoidance is not down to an individual not “wanting” to do something.

It's that they're not able to due the overwhelming anxiety they experience when faced with demands.

It is “I can’t” not “I won’t.”

[Steph’s Two Girls @stephstwogirls]

"The process of schooling is inherently one of expecting greater compliance while providing fewer options for children to make interest-based choices."
Over 50 fab contributors to this Square Pegs book, including @Naomicfisher https://t.co/N2j3evGdmc @teamsquarepeg #Education

[Steve B @75ThunderRoad]

2/2

My daughter often can't step inside her classrooms.

She's not trying to avoid education.
She's not refusing.
She's not naughty or defiant.
She's trying really hard.
She's worried, frightened, confused and exhausted.

There are many thousands of children like her.

[lisa chapman; @commonsenseslt.bsky.social @CommonSenseSLT]

I have huge problems with the word 'resilience'. To me it means coping in a situation that doesn't feel natural, comfortable, safe. We might be 'trained, persuaded & rewarded' to be resilient, but this isn't our true nature. Energy is taken, if pushed too far, too long, we break

[Dr Michelle Hacking @KingfisherPsych]

To all those young people with Autism who don't fit into our current school systems. I see you.

As a society, we need education provisions that fit the needs of the child, not a child who fits the needs of an education system.

[Square Peg @teamsquarepeg]

An uncomfortable truth: ‘But what if schools are the major source of the youth mental crisis? The NBER and Vanderbilt findings suggest that the problem may be schooling itself.’ We know there is a school to CAMHS pipeline. We know attendance difficulties is a flag. 1/

[Autism care and share @autcareandshare]

My son is autistic we do what works for him....not what works for other people

[Rebecca Leek @RebeccaLeek_]

Apparently you can read this in 8 minutes. I've gone edgy with behaviour: https://t.co/LbmXF7lSb3 #outliers #canaries

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

Resilience is being used to let the system off the hook. It's being used to say (again) that the problem is our young people and their parents who persist in listening to them. It's up them to them to adjust, no matter how damaging the system is. 10/

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

I didn’t realise, when I started working as a psychologist with children and families, how many stories I would hear about distress relating to school. School-related distress wasn’t really something that came up in my clinical training. 1/

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

I'm a trauma therapist and I work with families of children who are not fine at school. The more stories I hear, the more I am concerned that the strategies which are being used to apparently 'help' can make things worse rather than better. (with @_MissingTheMark) 1/

[Autistic Girls Network @AutisticGirls_]

Small adjustments make a big difference. 
There's no reason for changes like these not to be put in place, and to become part of usual practice. They benefit autistic pupils and ALL pupils. 
#SENDEducation #QualityFirstTeaching #AutismUnderstanding #NationalTeachingAssistantsDay

[Missing The Mark @_MissingTheMark]

Our children need an education that helps them be their true authentic self.
We need to stop thinking of alternatives to our education system as “less than” the norm – and parents need to stop having to fight so hard to justify these alternatives and keeping them……15/

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

"Mum is extremely anxious". When things go wrong for children, and they are distressed, it's not just their behaviour which is observed. Parents get assessed too. This is what families tell me happens (with @_MissingTheMark). 1/

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

As a clinical psychologist, I'm often asked what to do about school refusal. By which adults usually mean, how can we get the children to go to school and stop protesting? Here's why our kids need us to think differently. 1/

[Naomi Fisher @naomicfisher]

How do children find new things to learn? I'm sometimes asked if I don't worry that self-directed children will miss out on important learning. Here's why my worry is more for children who are at school. 1/ (with @_MissingTheMark)

[Laura Kerbey @LauraKerbey]

I’ve always said that children with #PDA are “Adults trapped in children’s bodies”
❌ Children with PDA don’t see age
❌ Children with PDA don’t see hierarchy
❌ Children with PDA don’t see authority
Children with PDA see people that they feel safe around or not @_MissingTheMark

[Matthew Carlile @DrMCarlile]

What features would be offered in the ideal secondary school for children and young people with PDA autism?

And do such schools exist?

Pls add ideas below and RT

@PDASociety @PDAParenting @ChangingAbout @cariadasd @pdadaduk @Positively_PDA @_MissingTheMark @Autism

[sarah davey @sarah_j_d_34]

My daughter would verbally and physically hurt me after school. Was this bad behaviour? No, it was a result of all the stress she held inside her during the day. We changed the environment. She is home educated. She is herself again. #autism

[Amanda Mc Guinness @LittlePuddins]

Autistic Identification is life changing. I spent a life time feeling confused, feeling misplaced, alone, trying so hard to fit in but never getting it exactly “right”. I know exactly who I am, I don’t chase “normal” anymore. I am at peace.