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Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders pp 1–3Cite as

Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)

Synonyms

Autism spectrum disorder and PDA traits (O’Nions et al. 2018); Extreme demand avoidance (Gillberg 2014); Newson’s syndrome (Ogundele 2018); Pathological demand avoidance syndrome (Newson et al. 2003); Rational demand avoidance (Milton 2017)

Definition

Elizabeth Newson developed the concept of pathological demand avoidance (PDA) to describe a subset of children referred to her clinic based in Nottingham, UK, in the 1970s (Newson et al. 2003). Newson applied the term PDA to children that were traditionally diagnosed as either having pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified or atypical autism, yet both parents and clinicians thought these terms did not adequately describe the child’s presenting difficulties (Newson et al. 2003). Consequently, PDA was first proposed in 1980 as a distinct pervasive development disorder with the following behavior profile (Gillberg 2014): consistent resistance to every day demands, ease at role-play and pretend play, language delay...

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References and Reading

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Independent Scholar, Nottingham, UK

    Richard Woods

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  1. Richard Woods
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Correspondence to Richard Woods .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Yale Child Study Center, New Haven, CT, USA

    Prof. Fred R. Volkmar

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Woods, R. (2020). Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA). In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102293-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102293-2

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Chapter History

  1. Latest

    Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)
    Published:
    30 January 2020

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102293-2

  2. Original

    Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA)
    Published:
    01 October 2018

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102293-1