‘See it as a positive challenge’: Towards Better Educational Journeys for Children with Extreme Demand Avoidance

Noncompliance to adults' requests poses a significant barrier to children's participation and fulfilling relationships at home and school, thus warranting attention and intervention.

Noncompliance is frequently seen in children with a variety of developmental difficulties, and is particularly prominent in children with 'Pathological Demand Avoidance' (PDA), a pervasive pattern of difficulties increasingly recognized as part of the autism spectrum.

A systematic review examined the effectiveness of 'errorless compliance training', a highly individualised intervention to increase compliance in children with developmental disabilities or delay.

A series of single-case experimental designs was judged to provide promising initial evidence for its effectiveness in children with a range of difficulties, aged 3-10 years, as delivered by a range of adults, in either the home or the educational setting.

However, randomized controlled trials are required to provide weightier evidence of the intervention's efficacy, and considerable feasibility issues will limit its real world applicability.

The empirical paper reports an exploration of the educational experiences of children with PDA, employing an equal status sequential mixed-methods design.

Forty eight parent questionnaire responses demonstrated the significant behavioural, emotional and social needs of this group, and the high levels of support and professional involvement they receive in school.

Their educational histories reveal high rates of exclusions and placement breakdowns, with 48% of the group now in specialist provision.

Parents defined successful placements as those in which their children were fully included.

Semi-structured interviews with a smaller number of parents and teaching staff of children in successful placements identified strategies and approaches which contribute to placement success, and are likely to be useful for other parents and schools.

This is the first study to highlight the complex needs and high rates of difficulty of this group of children in education, and to identify how they can best be supported at school.