The Biggest Mistake Parents Make Getting Their Child out of PDA Autistic Burnout

I am sharing one of the three biggest mistakes I see PDA Autism parents make, unintentionally, of course, when they begin to navigate supporting their PDA and/or PDA Autistic child, teen or young adult out of burnout. If you are wondering if you are falling into this trap, too, then press play to find out. This is for all parents of neurodivergent parents (specifically Autistic and or ADHD with a PDA Pathological demand avoidant profile), who are constantly questioning if they are doing "too much" or "too little" for their child in neurodivergent burnout.

There's a window before burnout takes over completely, and what you do in that window really matters. And what I honestly see almost daily, is well-meaning parents doing three specific things that unintentionally keep their child in burnout for longer.

Key takeaways from this episode:

There is a window before burnout takes over completely — trust your instincts when you sense your child is heading thereRefusing the things they genuinely love is not stubbornness. It is their nervous system past capacityPulling back a little is not the same as pulling back enough — and most families do not go far enoughThe uncomfortable question underneath the resistance is often: is this about my child, or about me?The timelines we compare ourselves against were never built for a PDA nervous system in the first placePulling back is not giving up. It is one of the single most protective things you can do for a child in burnout

This week I am going into the first of the three traps I see keeping families stuck in PDA burnout recovery. It is the one almost every family falls into, and it is not because they do not love their child enough. It is because pulling back really far, for really long, is genuinely uncomfortable — and the culture we live in tells us that pulling back means giving up.

I am also getting really honest about the "why" work underneath it. Because so often, the resistance to fully pulling back is not about our child. It is about us — how we will be perceived, what we are afraid of, whose timeline we are quietly working against.

Free online training: Get Your PDA Child (and Your Entire Home) Out of Survival Mode for Good

Grab your free spot and get my exact step-by-step plan to start supporting your child out of burnout. Stop walking on eggshells and learn the three game-changing strategies that bring calmer transitions, reduce meltdowns, and offer real relief from burnout.

Live Tuesday, September 22, 2026 ·