INDIANAPOLIS — A new children's book written by an author and neurologist from Indiana explores the love and connection between a mother and her son while navigating emotional challenges.
"The Boy and His Brightly Colored Blocks" is authored by Dr. Shafer Stedron.
"The boy does have PDA or pathological demand avoidance tendencies. It's not a diagnosis currently, it's a profile of behaviors that's often seen in children with autism, but not only in children with autism, where they have an outsized response," Dr. Stedron said.
Dr. Stedron attended medical school and completed her neurology residency at the IU School of Medicine.
Recently, she visited her alma mater, Center Grove Elementary, where she read her book. The story is a personal one for her family.
"My son exhibits these behaviors, and it's something that my family has learned to navigate together," she shared.
She explained how outsized responses to demands or outside expectations can lead to avoidant behaviors.
"So that can look like I simply won't respond to you if you have a demand for me. If you ask me to do something, I clam up or I hide. It can also look like if you ask me to eat dinner at the table, I refuse," Dr. Stedron said.
"I love that she's really sharing about acceptance and understanding that we all have different emotions, we have different feelings, and we all need different things, and when we can accept the differences in others, we get to be one big family, and really, everyone gets the opportunity to thrive," Kristin Rodman said.
Rodman is the Director of Elementary Special Education at Center Grove Elementary. Her biggest takeaway from the book focuses on compromise.
"Compromises are a huge opportunity for our students, all children, honestly, but to be able to understand that there are times where we are going to have to do something, and there are times when we can offer you a choice in those opportunities," Rodman said.
Dr. Stedron hopes the book helps parents navigate the importance of connecting with kids with PDA profile behaviors, instead of always correcting them.
"We can often end up in these power struggles if we lean too much into correction instead of connecting with them and understanding the need behind the behavior," Dr. Stedron said.
