Free To Be Me PDA Workbook

Your brain is brilliant. Free to be you. 🪁

Free to Be Me is a fun, easy-read workbook for children and teens with a PDA (demand avoidance) profile, who need to do things their own way. Guided by Kit, a brain that LOVES freedom like a kite on a windy day, young people explore why demands can feel so big, notice their early warning signs, find ways to calm and recharge, and tell the people around them what helps.

Created by The SEN Advocate, it is designed to be low-demand from the first page. A workbook can feel like a demand too, so this one has NO rules: start anywhere, skip freely, cross out the questions and write your own, draw instead of writing, or talk while someone else writes. The young person is in charge of how it’s used, including whether to use it at all today.

WHAT’S INSIDE (57 pages)

🪁 Part 1: My Freedom Brain – So… What Is PDA?, Myth Busters quiz, Strengths & Tricky Bits, My Brain Is Like…, All About Me

🚨 Part 2: The No Alarm – Meet My No Alarm, Demand Spotter, How Big Does It Feel?, Not Knowing What’s Next, Body Clues, Early Warning Signs

🔋 Part 3: Calm & Recharge – The Calm-Down Café, My Energy Battery, My Recharge Zone, Inner Critic vs Inner Coach, My Proud Jar

🎯 Part 4: Doing Things My Way – The Choice Menu, Brain Hacks, The Deal-Maker, My Day My Way, Home Life, Friends & Play, Words That Help Me

🎒 Part 5: School – My School Day, What Helps Me at School, My One-Page Profile, When My Alarm Is Loud, Learning My Way, cut-out Help Cards

🏆 Part 6: Level Up – Speak Up for Me, My Support Squad, What I Want You to Know, Goal Quest, Look How Far I’ve Come, A Letter to Future Me, and a Free to Be Me Certificate

🧰 The Printable Toolkit – daily planner, weekly check-in, monthly habit tracker and cut-out Calm Pocket Cards to print again and again

Plus a This Book, Your Way page that hands control to the young person, a Note for Grown-Ups with tips drawn from the PDA Society’s PANDA approach, and a Where to Get Help page of UK support services.

WHY FAMILIES AND SCHOOLS LOVE IT

✔ Truly low-demand: no rules, no marks, every page optional
✔ Explains the big “NO!” feeling as an alarm, not a choice and not bad behaviour
✔ Celebrates PDA strengths like imagination, negotiating, fairness and independence
✔ Collaborative tools (choices, deal-making, helpful wording) instead of rewards and consequences
✔ School-ready pages to share with teachers and SENCos, and use in SEN Support and EHCP conversations
✔ Honest about the evidence: the grown-ups’ note explains what PDA is and isn’t
✔ Fill it in on screen or print it out, and reprint favourite pages as often as you like

PERFECT FOR

• Children and teens aged 8–16 with a PDA or demand avoidant profile, or who think this sounds like them

• Autistic young people who find everyday demands very hard

• Parents and carers

• Teachers, SENCos, ELSAs and teaching assistants

• Therapists, mentors and support workers

WHAT YOU GET

• 1 fillable PDF file, 57 pages, A4

• Instant digital download, so no physical item will be posted

PLEASE NOTE

This workbook is for understanding, self-reflection and conversation. It is not a diagnostic tool or therapy programme and does not replace professional advice. PDA is not a separate diagnosis in DSM-5, ICD-11 or NICE guidance, and is most often described as a profile within autism. Written in UK English with UK support services listed.

© 2026 The SEN Advocate. For personal and educational use only. Not for resale or redistribution.