PDA North America

PDA North America welcomes Amanda Diekman, AuDHD author of Low Demand Parenting to do a live Q&A on low demand parenting the lesser known profile of autism called PDA (pathological demand avoidance/persistent drive for autonomy).

Learn more: www.pdanorthamerica.org

For webinars & training videos from PDA North America, visit the PDA Learning Lab at learn.pdanorthamerica.org

Mindful As A Mother

We are in our low demand era....

Amanda Diekman, author of Low Demand Parenting, shares her transformative approach to raising children. Discover how letting go of unrealistic expectations and embracing radical acceptance can create a calmer, happier home for everyone. Learn how to prioritize rest, reduce demands, and find joy in the journey. Remember, it's okay if every day isn't perfect – small steps lead to big changes!

Low Demand Parenting is a game-changer for parents, especially those with autistic children. Tune in to hear how Amanda's insights can transform your family life.

Reframing Neurodiversity

Hey guys. I'm so excited to share today's interview with you. I'm talking to Amanda Diekman, the author of Low-Demand Parenting.

My friend, Jacqui recently introduced me to Amanda's work because I've been super curious about PDA, Pathological Demand Avoidance. It’s a profile typically associated with high masking autistics…

However, I'm starting to encounter this profile coinciding with some ADHDers in my personal life, along with some coaching clients.

I am so excited that Amanda reached out and offered to share her wisdom around low demand parenting, which is such a supportive approach to this profile. If you are not familiar with Amanda and her work, you are in for a treat.

Complicated Kids Podcast

Our conversation ran the gamut from autistic burnout, the problems with masking, and how our children are not empty vessels to be filled to how to think differently about the relationship with ourselves and our children while also dropping demands. This was a powerful conversation that you won't want to miss!

The ADHD Women's Wellbeing Podcast

Amanda and Kate spoke about:

• Amanda's son's autism diagnosis journey
• What it means to be a 'low-demand parent'
• Re-defining how you want to parent
• Ableism - what does this look like
• Letting go of parenting demands, habits or standards that aren't benefiting you
• Releasing all the expectations, pressures, shoulds and conditioning to help create a calmer environment for our family
• Things you can drop or change to make parenting easier for you
• Making communication safe for your autistic or neurodivergent child
• What it means to 'un-school'
• Dealing with systems and schools as a neurodivergent parent
• Asking for accommodations for you and your children

EVOLVE with Dr. Tay: the podcast for parents of autistic kids

Dr. Tay and Amanda Diekman discuss:

1. What a low demand lifestyle is
2. The three layers of a demand
3. How to find joy in this parenting journey

Radical Learning

In this episode we chat with Amanda Diekman, also known as Low Demand Amanda.

Amanda shares about the low demand approach to supporting neurodivergent kids by dropping demands, centering their humanity and moving away from ableism.

90-Minute School Day

Discover a revolutionary approach to parenting and homeschooling! Join host Kelly Edwards as she engages in a live recorded conversation with Amanda Diekman, author of "Low Demand Parenting” and Robyn Robertson of Honey! I’m Homeschooling the Kids.

Amanda walks us through her personal journey through burnout, breaking societal norms, and finding freedom outside conventional boxes. She shares practical tips for navigating demands, recognizing your capacity, and building trust with your children. If you're a parent seeking joy, healing, and a unique path, this episode is a must-listen.

Special Needs Kids Are People Too!

The conversation we had was quite fascinating! As it turns out, Amanda Diekman is also an Autistic adult who thinks in patterns!

I have found that when an Autistic adult who thinks in patterns writes a book, it is worth reading because it will help you understand exactly how everything fits together!

Low-Demand Amanda is no different! In this episode she provides us with a great overview of what Low-Demand Parenting is all about!

The ReProgram

Amanda is here to offer a supremely refreshing perspective on how we need to peel back the layers of what we're doing and focus entirely on what is most critical-- meeting everyone's essential needs for safety and connection.

Focusing on this base, we promote resiliency, learning, more regulated connected nervous systems, and healthy attachment relationships.

We talk about how to move the energy of emotion intuitively (she gives the best examples!), and we both ended this conversation with a beautiful metaphor.

The Peaceful Parenting Podcast

Amanda Diekman, an eminent advocate for low-demand parenting, discusses her own experiences as an autistic adult, and how it has shaped her parenting style.

She also explains the core principles of low-demand parenting and emphasizes on building trustful relationships by being creatively supportive to meet the child's distinctive needs.

We also look into the parental process of accommodating a child's neurodiversity, experiencing a sense of deep 'why', and their own need within it.

Divergent Conversations

Do you wonder how life might differ between an Autistic individual without ADHD and an Autistic individual with ADHD?

In this episode, Patrick Casale and Dr. Megan Anna Neff, two AuDHD mental health professionals, talk with Amanda Diekman, mother of three neurodivergent children, and an author and coach in the neurodivergent-affirming parenting world, about her experiences as an Autistic individual without ADHD.

Neurodiversity Podcast

Entering the world of neurodiversity often enables personal discovery, and creates challenges. How can parenting nudge adults toward uncovering their own neurodivergence? What is 'low-demand parenting' all about? It’s not simply eliminating expectations, it’s deeper and more nuanced. We’re diving into the complex world of self-discovery and parenting with Amanda Diekman.

Uniquely Human: The Podcast

Amanda provides examples of the “Low Demand Parenting” and presents this approach in contrast to advice often given to parents of autistic and other neurodivergent children. She challenges many mainstream beliefs about raising children, especially those who are defined as having behavioral patterns perceived as problematic by others. Her work prioritizes building trusting relationships focused on supporting the emotional growth and well-being of children.

Sage Family

"A demand is anything that is too hard in the present moment. And that can be for you or them. As a family, we have found the language of ‘too hard’ to be incredibly freeing. When things are hard, we show up, we do our best, we’re brave, we ask for help. And when things are too hard, we find a way to let it go."

We discuss low demand parenting, permissiveness, power dynamics, emotions, and tips, techniques, and strategies to shift to a more low demand approach.

One Bad Mother

Amanda Diekman, founder and author of Low-Demand Parenting, joins Biz to discuss PTSD, the trouble with masking, and opening a package of Oreos in the middle of the supermarket. 

One Bad Mother is a comedy podcast hosted by Biz Ellis about motherhood and how unnatural it sometimes is. We aren’t all magical vessels!

Join us every week as we deal with the thrills and embarrassments of motherhood and strive for less judging and more laughing.

Raising Wildlings

After chatting with Amanda Diekman, author and leading voice in the neurodiversity parenting movement, I can honestly say I felt some of the weight and pressure of parenting lift as she gave me and all our listeners permission to say, ‘It’s too hard right now” and let some things go. I hope you too find the permission you may be seeking today to radically accept your child and family where you and they are at.

Tilt Parenting: Raising Differently Wired Kids

I’ve gotten to know today’s guest, Amanda Diekman, over the past year after I participated in her Low Demand Parenting Summit.  Because low-demand parenting can be such an effective approach to supporting differently wired kids, especially kids who fall under the PDA profile of autism, I invited Amanda to join the show for a conversation about what this parenting approach looks like. 

The Baffling Behavior Show

We tread into the challenging terrain of parenting children with highly sensitive nervous systems, sharing insightful strategies and breakthrough research work of Ross Green, Mona Delahooke, and Stuart Shanker.

Consent-Based Everything

I chat with Amanda Diekman, parent coach and autistic mother of neurodivergent children, about Low-Demand Parenting, her journey to celebrating her family's Neurodiversity, and her new book! It's a beautiful chat and we talk about radical acceptance, permissiveness, inner work and so much more.

Journeys with PDA Coffee Chat

Amanda shares about her family's journey through Pathological Demand Avoidance, autistic burnout, crisis and the path they took to find peace and healing.

The Autism ADHD Podcast

Amanda, autistic parenting coach,  joins us today to talk about low demand parenting. We cover so much in this important episode such as -

• Identifying "hard" and "too hard"
• Autistic burnout
• Building trust and connection
• Low demand versus no demand
• Being a safe parent and educator
• Preparing children for the future
• Mental health and more :)

The Unschool Space

Amanda’s journey to unschooling started with her 8 year-old who is autistic, PDA and the reality that school was a difficult and traumatic experience for him. Her 10 year old son, who is also autistic later chose also to leave school. We talk about how we can meet the needs of a PDA child, how essential it is that we leave behind any mainstream ideas about parenting and education that are unlikely to serve us, and about how unschooling looks very different according to each child.

Beautifully Complex

Low demand parenting doesn’t mean that we dismiss all expectations of a child and let them do whatever they want. Instead, low demand parenting means dropping demands and reducing expectations in order to meet kids with radical acceptance. As I explain in this episode, the purpose of the low demand life is to find ease and joy.

But how exactly do you shift from the high demand parenting that’s instinctual to most people to low demand parenting? You start with radical acceptance and respecting the child’s boundaries.

Grow Up

Amanda walks us through the ‘low demand’ lifestyle and the JOY that comes right along with it. She helps us understand the difference between ‘hard’ and ‘too hard’ when posed with the question, ‘when should I push and when should I accommodate?’ Yes, this episode is long, but it's also packed so FULL of Amanda's grace and wisdom as she demonstrates these game-changing, low-demand concepts!

Two Sides of the Spectrum

There’s a tool that is missing from most of our therapy bags: it’s lowering the demands for our Autistic clients. This tool is irreplaceable for helping Autistic people recover from the burnout cycle, and even for preventing burnout all together. Amanda Diekman helps us figure out how to do just that.

Navigating the Spectrum

This episode with Amanda Diekman focuses on low-demand parenting. Amanda tells us what it is, who it benefits, and why she uses low-demand parenting herself.

Neurodiverging

On this episode, we talk about...

+ Amanda's experience self-identifying as autistic as an adult and going through her diagnosis process, versus her experience advocating for her young son's diagnosis, treatment, and finding support

+ What PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance/ Pervasive Drive toward Autonomy) looks like and Amanda's experience parenting a PDA child

+ What other accommodations and resources are helpful for folks learning about the PDA profile of autism

+Amanda's parenting approach, low demand parenting, how it works, and how you can learn more about it