BOUNCE Approach®Demand AvoidanceCPD CertifiedOn-DemandND-Affirming
Managing Demand Avoidance
Explore practical, specialist strategies for supporting children and young people who struggle with demand — drawing on approaches used in special education settings and applicable across school and home contexts.
Supporting a child who cannot cope with demand is one of the most challenging and isolating experiences for the adults around them. This training pulls together effective approaches used in specialist educational settings, exploring different styles of managing demand avoidance in children and young people. While the training touches on PDA, the focus is on demand avoidance broadly — making it relevant to anyone working with or caring for children who present in this way.
Child Therapy Service is listed as a recommended resource in the Demand Avoidance vs PDA guide published by East Sussex Child Development Team (2021). Suitable for teachers, teaching assistants, SENCOs, therapists, family support workers, and parents — no prior knowledge of PDA or demand avoidance required.
Also included
Three bonus resources to deepen your practice.
💜 Wellbeing Snapshot Access
A structured snapshot to identify where a child may be struggling on the inside while appearing fine on the outside — so you can see beneath the surface and respond to what is actually there.
📈 Progress Overview Access
Track entry to exit progress and evidence what has changed across the review period — giving you a clear picture of impact over time.
🧠 Introduction to the BOUNCE Approach® Webinar
Understand the nervous system foundations behind regulation, emotional expression, and connection — so you can apply them with confidence in your sessions.
Objectives
Learning Objectives
By the end of this training, you will be able to:
1
Distinguish between avoidant behaviour and anxiety
Understand the difference between avoidance as a behaviour and anxiety as a nervous system response — and why that distinction matters for how you respond to and support the child in front of you.
2
Explore individualised approaches to supporting children with demand avoidance
Move away from one-size-fits-all strategies and explore how to build a tailored, individual approach that works with a child’s specific profile, triggers, and nervous system needs.
3
Understand how the flow of the day impacts a child’s capacity to cope
Develop awareness of how the rhythm, demands, and transitions across a day accumulate in the nervous system — and how this shapes a child’s ability to manage their emotions as the day progresses.
4
Apply collaborative, practical approaches to support the child
Explore how to work with — rather than around — children with demand avoidance, using collaborative problem-solving and low-demand approaches that reduce anxiety and build trust over time.
Resources
What’s Included
A structured toolkit to systematically identify and reduce demands for the child or young person.
1
Assessments
Sensory Difficulties Checklist and Whole Child Assessment Tracker — two tools to build a complete picture of the child’s profile before beginning the demand reduction process.
2
Step 1 — Identify triggers and rate demands against the BOUNCE Scale
Child Observation Sheet, Emotional Activation Triggers Pack, and Home and School Visuals — tools to identify what’s activating the nervous system and how intensely each demand is experienced.
3
Step 2 — Link the scale to physical sensations
Physical Sensations Cards and Visuals, Behaviours that Challenge Visuals, and Emotional Scale Strips and Fans — resources to help children and adults connect nervous system states to felt body experience.
4
Step 3 — Prioritise demands
Prioritise Demands Sheet — a structured tool to help you decide which demands to reduce, remove, or adapt first, based on their impact on the child’s nervous system.
5
Step 4 — Problem solve solutions
Problem Solving Sheet and Spoons Activity Sheet — collaborative tools to work through solutions with the child and identify what adjustments are realistic, sustainable, and genuinely helpful.
