WE ROAR Magazine April 2024 - Magazine - Page 105
Nicola Reekie is a parent to a young person
who is autistic and has a PDA diagnosis, a
solution-focused therapist and founder of
The PDA Space— a community for parents,
carers, and professionals. Her mission is to
raise awareness of PDA, collaborating with
education and health professionals, making a
positive difference for families across the
globe.
The PDA Space seems an amazing
organisation, but how did it come about?
The PDA Space was created by 8chance9.
I was hosting the first conference on (PDA)
Pathological Demand Avoidance April in
2020 because, as a parent, I knew there was
a real need for more knowledge and
understanding around PDA.
Over the years I had been told to CHANGE
my parenting as I needed to be more…,be
stricter, put firmer boundaries in, give
consequences and remove tech! All of which
did the polar opposite and created more
challenging behaviour.
Instead, having a deeper understanding of
the challenges that my son experiences has
made all the difference to our family.
I hear from professionals who are working
within the Neurodivergent community how
PDA parenting 9style9 has created a more
supportive environment.
In essence, creating a low demand lifestyle
means meeting your child where they are at,
not their age, learning to connect and
collaborate with them to name just a few.
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I think we all remember what happened in
April 2020.
I knew from my social media that there were
so many families struggling and needing
support.
This inspired me to change from a physical,
in person, conference to a Global, online
Summit that enabled me to bring together a
wealth of knowledge from those with lived
experience and professionals that would
support families and professionals within the
Neurodivergent community, not just the PDA
Community
I do love being able to create solutions…
The bringing together of a range of different
speakers with vast amounts of knowledge is
so valuable and I have personally benefited
from the knowledge and wisdom that
Summits bring.
I received feedback from many families that
have been part of previous summits who
have listened to webinars that have given
them the answers that they9ve been
searching for.They now feel heard, held and
validated.
This is why I created The PDA Space
Summit…
As a child my Dad would say I was a magnet
bringing people together and now I do it for
a living.
Bringing the voices of the PDA Community
together.
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