Education and PDA

Educational Settings

PDA learners often thrive when adults are curious, collaborative and flexible about how, where and when learning happens. The most helpful environments tend to be low-pressure, relationship-focused and responsive to the young person’s intrinsic interests and energy levels. These days there are more and more options for our kiddos and this is certainly not a one-size-fits all scenario. In addition, what works for your child one year, may evolve the following. Be sure to check on each program’s accredidation as requirements in your state may depend on this. Here’s a short list of overall categories:

• Mainstream school — can work best when demands are carefully reduced, transitions are prepared in advance, and there is a focus on trust, autonomy, sensory regulation and meaningful adjustments rather than rewards and sanctions.
  • Public School: Small class room sizes tend to be more manageable and flexible. Must depend on a supportive and caring teacher.
  • Charter school: Still part of the public school system. May provide more flexibility for families (ie part-time school, or part home-school, part in-person school) but this is school-to-school dependent, and there is often less funding to provide supports like aides.
• Specialized schools — smaller settings designed specifically for autism or learning disabilities but can be cost-prohibitive unless it is covered by the public school system, specialist settings may provide trauma-informed practice, flexible timetables, sensory-aware spaces and staff with specific PDA/autism training.
• Private school– Not obligated to provide supports but can be a good option if they are flexible in allowing parent-provided outside supports to come into the school or classroom. Also more flexibility with a modified schedule.
• Home education or Unschooling — can offer a calmer, predictable base with space for one-to-one support, interest-led projects and plenty of downtime. Helpful when traditional settings feel overwhelming or unsafe. Laws and requirements for home-school or unschooling are state-to-state dependent.
  • Unschooling: This is a child-led approach in which learning is driven by your child’s interests and everyday life experiences. There is no predetermined curriculum or traditional classroom structure. It is largely led by you, the caregiver. Learning is relaxed, unstructured, and typically not linear.
    • Unschooling Mom-to-Mom
    • Unschooling Every Family
  • Homeschool: Your options here will really vary from state-to-state. Check your local requirements.
    • Public Homeschool: Paid for by the state, led by parent/caregiver with certified teacher support (often virtual/online), state testing required, proof of independent work needs to be recorded periodically.
    • Independent Homeschool: Paid for by the caregiver, led by parent/caregiver, no teacher or tutor support unless hired, student work is variable, there are various private programs (often virtual) you can pay to supplement education or provide online education at home.
    • Hybrid school: Some public schooling options include a part-time in school and part-time at home or virtual school option. Requirements are similar to “Public Homeschool” above.
    • Enrichment programs:
    • Microschools: Small local learning community that can offer small class size, multi-age classroom, individualized and flexible learning, often student-led and project-based. These can be private or publically funded.
    • Homeschool Co-op: Formed by parents who homeschool their children but hire teachers or share teaching responsibilities.

Quick note: These are generalities to give parents an overall idea on possible schooling options. The right fit will be school-to-school dependent. For example, one private school may allow outside support to come into the class room, but another may not.

Educational Philosophies and Learning Styles

PDA learners often benefit from collaborative problem-solving, choice and control over tasks, visual supports instead of verbal instructions, and opportunities to learn through real-life interests rather than worksheets or timed demands.

• Project-based learning
• Interest-led or Student-led learning
• Waldorf-inspired program
• Nature school/ outdoor school
• Reggio Emilia program
• Montessori