Wow, thank you for sharing. I’m a speech-language pathologist and have worked with several kids who have PDA. I get the desperation and could see parents taking out a loan for the at peace parents 😩 thank you for highlighting that her degree is in political science. The predatory nature of her business is awful. In my experience with PDA, one strategy could work one day and not the next. I also do not like that she once said it’s ok for kids to lie if they have PDA. I feel that sets them up for failure in any type of future relationship. No one likes being around a liar and employers would for sure fire you.
I’ll add myself to the list of folks who discovered PDA by way of At Peace Parenting, which ultimately led to an autism diagnosis. To her credit, she does put out a lot of free resources, and we found it very helpful when we were at our wits end.
Because PDA is so poorly described and understood, I really worry about people taking this article the wrong way, so I appreciate your disclaimer that you believe PDA is a real thing.
For us, the shift away from behaviorism was such a benefit. I wish there were more clinicians who actually understood that traditional behaviorist parenting does not work with PDA kids, because right now, that is what is driving people to influencers who validate what parents are actually going through.
I have said the same thjng to my partner about Casey Ehrlich for a long time. I’d looked up her credentials and saw her PhD was in poly sci and said exactly what you wrote here. Love your directness. As a mom of a pda kid, it makes me mad. People have commodified our kids and the desperation we feel as parents. I wonder why people are not asking themselves if they should be taking medical and mental health advice from influencers with no true credibility. I say this as a medical provider of 25 years - it matters where you get your information.
As a family psychologist who has treated highly demand avoidant kids for over 40 years, I am so grateful that you wrote this piece! I've been calling out these predatory influencers (and Casey Ehrlich in particular) for a while. Thinking I knew something about these kids and what works with them, I've joined several Facebook parent support groups for PDA (and one here on Reddit). Woof! That's been an experience to say the least. You're correct, these are echo chambers, and any voices that don't conform to the majority views (e.g., PDA is a nervous system disability, PDA kids can't change for the better, low demand parenting is the way to go, etc.) are loudly shouted down. I've been called every name in the book by both the influencers and the parents who gave them money. I try to politely give a science and clinically-based perspective, but I've been kicked out of these groups numerous times. Admins allow the bullying to occur, and it's clear that they suffer from the same biases and misinformation as the group members (and the same psychological incentives that prevent them from considering other perspectives. Thank you again for speaking out. I think we'll be reading more articles like this in the future, and I'm very much looking forward to that day.
Hello. I have participated in the *paid* Paradigm Shift Program and as far as I’m concerned it was worth every penny. This article reads as if you have an axe to grind against Casey Ehrlich, and it’s a shame that you are attempting to sway people from the benefits that At Peace Parents can offer to families in crisis.
I won’t debate about the science or the diagnoses; to be quite frank those are of far lesser importance to me than the methods that At Peace Parents teaches for managing and supporting children with PDA. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say the lessons and the support that were offered truly changed my life, and the lives of my PDA child and the rest of my family.
Prior to finding At Peace Parents I had dealt with our school district and special ed classes and the IU specialists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, ABA therapy…. At age 8 my son had an inpatient hospitalization at a behavioral hospital (something I deeply regret after learning what I now know from the Paradigm Shift Program). All of these professionals offered some kind of solution - token economies, reward systems, meds, meds, and more meds…. Guess what? None of that worked, but I stayed the course because that’s what the ‘professionals’ were telling me to do. Oh, and none of them had ever heard of or gave creedence to the idea of ‘PDA’. And guess what else? ALL of those professionals are PAID to offer their ‘solutions’. Some were paid through my insurance, some were paid by way of the taxes I pay, some were paid directly out of my pocket. This is their career and it’s how they spend their 9-5 so it’s how they support themselves and their families. Is that predatory?
At Peace Parents, and Casey Ehrlich specifically, provided me with a framework to support my child in the way that he needs, and the result has been dramatic. I cry when I think about the years of trauma that built up listening to the other professionals and the time lost doing so. I only wish that I had learned about At Peace Parents and the Paradigm Shift Program sooner. It would have been worth 10x what I paid for it.
Really the only point I’m trying to make is that from my point of view, the $1200 for the Paradigm Shift Program was some of the best money I’ve ever spent.
I don’t think I’m going to convince you to change your opinion, and that’s not my intention. I just want to offer some perspective from someone who has spent the money and found the value in it so that other people reading this article might see it. The article makes Casey Ehrlich sound like a tik tok influencer shilling snake oil potions for a commission. That wasn’t my experience at all, and if I had read this prior to enrolling in the paradigm shift program it probably would have swayed me from doing the very thing which I credit with saving my family. We were in crisis. I was hopeless. Despondent. Desperate. Nothing was working. I dreaded each and every day. I’m a single parent of 3 and I work full time in a demanding job, and supporting a PDA kid when no one else knows or understands what it’s like and they all have their opinions on what you should do felt like a special rung of hell. The Paradigm Shift program rescued me and my family from that.
Since the cost seems to be a sticking point, I’ll just point out that I had spent a lot more money trying to support my PDA kid before I found At Peace Parents. Endless co-pays and deductibles. I had to pay $1000 just to get an ADOS test to show an ASD diagnosis in order for my insurance to cover their share of ABA and this was after we already had an ASD (level 2) diagnosis from a psychologist and a psychiatrist. If I had found At Peace Parents sooner, I actually would have saved a great deal of money.
Does the paradigm shift program borrow from other people’s philosophies? I’m sure it does. I’m also quite certain that every therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, special ed teacher, BCBA, etc. that we ever saw utilizes skills and practices that someone else had researched and developed and that they learned about in their schooling/training.
I know that At Peace Parents offers a great deal of content for free, and I believe recordings of master classes are available for reasonable prices (I could be wrong about this). The paradigm shift program offers a more intimate, guided journey through the methods Casey uses. It also fosters a community of parents and care givers which is an enormous benefit to all of us who feel like we’re going through this alone and no one else understands. Many of us are still in touch. Did you even consider contacting anyone who’s participated in the Paradigm Shift Program before you formed your opinion that it’s predatory due to cost and marketing?
I know I sound defensive. I feel strongly about the value that At Peace Parents added to my life. It may not be for everyone, and there may well be others out there who could have helped me similarly or maybe even better, but I hadn’t stumbled upon them.
I strongly urge anyone reading this who is currently in crisis with a PDA child not to be dismissive of what At Peace Parents has to offer based on the reasons given in this article.
Again, I’m genuinely glad that you found a lot of value in your purchase.
“The article makes Casey Ehrlich sound like a tik tok influencer shilling snake oil potions for a commission.”
I think you meant this as hyperbole, but I don’t know that I would say this characterization is entirely unfair. Ehrlich certainly is a TikTok influencer with 243,000+ followers. She also uses deceptive marketing to present her product as not only more evidence-based than it is, but as the only evidence based program for her target audience, and ignores common ethical standards dictating that credentials should be used to signify authority outside the domain of her research.
Again, this is not a critique of the program content—that would be a whole different article.
I’m also not against all programs and treatments outside of the standard medical framework. I’m a huge fan of Andrew Solomon’s Ted Talk ‘Depression, the secret we share,’ where he says:
“If you have brain cancer, and you say that standing on your head for 20 minutes every morning makes you feel better, it may make you feel better, but you still have brain cancer, and you'll still probably die from it. But if you say that you have depression, and standing on your head for 20 minutes every day makes you feel better, then it's worked, because depression is an illness of how you feel, and if you feel better, then you are effectively not depressed anymore. So I became much more tolerant of the vast world of alternative treatments.”
And this is a view I share on mental wellness treatments, programs, and so on—the problem isn’t necessarily that her program isn’t evidence based. The problem is that she’s intentionally presenting it as evidence based when it’s not.
‘This is a coaching program I developed based on my experiences with my PDA child,’ is a substantially different claim than ‘this is the only evidence based coaching program for PDA, developed by me, the leading researcher in the United States.’
“Does the paradigm shift program borrow from other people’s philosophies? I’m sure it does. I’m also quite certain that every therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, special ed teacher, BCBA, etc. that we ever saw utilizes skills and practices that someone else had researched and developed and that they learned about in their schooling/training.”
This isn’t really the point of the article, but I brought it up, so that’s on me. I do think there’s a meaningful difference between using other people’s knowledge and research to inform your practice and repackaging other people’s work as a proprietary program and marketing that repackaged work as the ‘only evidence based’ program.
“Since the cost seems to be a sticking point, I’ll just point out that I had spent a lot more money trying to support my PDA kid before I found At Peace Parents.”
I don't doubt it. U.S. healthcare is broken, and you won’t find me defending the hellish system you were forced to navigate. My concern is that people are being sold on the idea that this is the only evidence-based option when it’s not evidence-based at all, leading clients to make purchasing decisions under the belief that this program is uniquely credentialed when it isn't.
Why would a parent in crisis do any sort of cost-comparison if they’ve been sold on the idea that this program is the only one backed by science due to deceptive marketing?
“Did you even consider contacting anyone who’s participated in the Paradigm Shift Program before you formed your opinion that it’s predatory due to cost and marketing?”
I’m active in a lot of PDA-focused forums and groups, so I’ve read accounts from many people who have engaged with Ehrlich’s work, including other people who have positive opinions about it.
Again, this isn't a review of the program's content or the community surrounding it. I’m not trying to tell you that the program didn’t help you personally, or that no one else has ever found value in it.
But testimonials from satisfied participants, however genuine, don't change whether or not the marketing claims are accurate—and they’re not.
“I strongly urge anyone reading this who is currently in crisis with a PDA child not to be dismissive of what At Peace Parents has to offer based on the reasons given in this article.”
I would urge anyone reading this who is currently in a crisis with a PDA child to not take this article or any single article as the definitive word on anything.
I’m glad you found value in the program you purchased, but that doesn't change the fact that the marketing is predatory. If someone claims to be the "leading researcher in the U.S." with the "only proven effective" program, they need to be able to back that up, especially when their target audience is families in crisis.
Again, I’m not arguing for compliance-based behaviorist practices like tokens, sticker charts, ‘consequences,’ etc. as I believe these practices are outdated across the board. I’m opposed to ABA. I certainly don’t advise people to take medication that isn’t helping them, though I would encourage general awareness that it’s common for the process of finding effective mental-health meds to be (infuriatingly) trial-and-error.
I used acupuncture during infertility treatments and found it incredibly helpful, but I’d have a *major* issue if my acupuncturist claimed to have the only evidence-based infertility program to upsell a premium product to desperate people. Paid services aren't inherently predatory, but using wildly exaggerated marketing to sell expensive products to vulnerable people absolutely is.
I do have issues with some of the material At Peace Parents presents, including criticism that her content heavily repackages concepts from PDA writers like Kristy Forbes, which I think has a lot of merit. But she could have the most useful, original program in the world and it still wouldn't justify the deceptive marketing. Falsely inflating your credentials to sell an expensive product to families in crisis is fundamentally unethical, full stop.
Ugh! I am so grateful you pulled together these facts, and I hate to see how Casey‘s work has developed!
I followed her when she only just begun sharing about her own kids and building awareness about PDA, and she sounded very genuine back then.
At some point, greediness and money-grabbing must have kicked in - which is so sad! We must all earn our living, but not by ripping off people who are already struggling…
Agree! I get that we all live under capitalism and people need to eat. I can give people some grace in marketing their products, but this is way, way over the line.
Thanks for the in-depth expose. I hope people thoroughly read the breakdown you provide of the dishonest marketing mechanisms used to manipulate desperate people seeking support and solutions. I'd come across criticism of At Peace Parents before, so that bit wasn't new, but the amount being charged is breath-taking.
We are a family who have put up with vague symptoms for decades that could be caused by a number of things but none of them clinically diagnosable, but slowly and surely medical science is providing answers, but more importantly starting to recognise that we aren't and were never making it all up.
PDA answers questions about who I am and why I am the way I am and I have found that helpful.
Oof. You are the second person this week to call her out. I have mixed feelings. 1) Her podcast was how I finally put a finger on why my oldest was struggling so much after a major mental health crash/crisis (she has internalized PDA). She gave me the language to talk about it. 2) PDA feels like a disability a lot of the time. I guess since it’s paired with autism and/or ADHD it technically is? 3) The coaching prices ARE downright predatory, and I fully agree that the claims are pretty wild and not cool.
All three of those things can absolutely be true at the same time, IMO.
Having language to describe your experiences is *huge* and I don’t think the impact of that is undone by the rest of it. I generally think the discourse around PDA is a net benefit for PDAers and caregivers alike. When I was a kid (in ancient times, before we all had the internet) kids showing ‘extreme’ avoidance were sorted into oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), or “I dunno, they’re just bad.” The only ‘support’ my mom was offered was a suggestion that she surrender custody to DCFS.
"This helped me" definitely doesn't need to clear the same bar as a scientific claim. The problem isn't that PDA-the-concept took off before we really understand PDA, it’s that people are profiting off claims that have no evidence behind them—especially when they *know* those claims have no evidence and still present them otherwise.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! If you have a link to the other post about At Peace Parents feel free to drop it here, I’m nosy 😅
Thanks for sharing!! I agree with most of this article (no comment on Naomi Fisher in general at this point—I’m not familiar enough with her work and I know she has several ongoing controversies as the commenter below pointed out!
“When you tell a child they have a nervous system disability, you turn behaviour into something beyond their control. You tell them that they have a neurobiological disorder, and they hear that there is no hope of change.” —— this statement seems like a such a reach to me, though.
I wouldn’t tell PDA kids they have a distinct nervous system disability because there’s no evidence that supports that, but knowing you have a biomedical condition doesn’t mean “Welp, it’s out of your control, just give up!”
Like, I have a kid with cerebral palsy, which pretty much everyone can agree is a neurological condition, but symptoms can still be managed, improved, and accommodated. That doesn’t seem that different to me from a neurodevelopmental disorder or behavioral profile—it’s not entirely in your control, but the hand you were dealt and you have to learn to play with it.
I am not a supporter anymore of Naomi Fisher since I discovered that she publishes some very incendiary opinions (such as „neurodivergent children should not be told that they are ND“) as well as links to heavily biased Stacks like „Christianity on the Spectrum“ … just my personal opinion!
That’s good to know! I’ve learned a lot about her opinions in the past few weeks that have genuinely surprised me. I started following her because I really liked one of her books. It seems that because she did her Ph.d in autism in the early 2000s, she has a lot of strong opinions that often contrast with people who are actually neurodivergent.
Oh…damn…this is so discouraging to read. Please hear me that I’m not seeking to discount anything you’ve written; it’s all accurate. I’m just at the end of my rope despite over a year of doing my best to investigate how to help my PDA kid (and my autistic self, let’s be real) and I’ve definitely been following At Peace Parenting for a good portion of that. I haven’t bought any of what she’s hawking, but I *am* right in the thick of seeking local support and diagnosis. I hate the sensation of trusting someone for help and realizing I’ve been had with so many hopes pinned on their aid. The fact that PDA research is newly emerging despite the phrase being around for 40 years is so discouraging. And so we trudge on…
Thank you for your statistical analysis and the time you took to establish the reality check.
You’ve been reading, researching, and trying to wrap your head around how to best help your kid (and yourself) for *over a year.* That struggle is real and it’s absolutely exhausting.
Just to be clear, I don't think trying to find helpful information is ever a waste of time. When something is unlikely to be harmful and *might* be helpful, I’m all about trial and error, taking what works and leaving the rest. That's really the only way I know how to find anything useful when research and tangible support barely exists.
I absolutely love this. I couldn’t agree with you more. I am a person that offers PDA services to families and I am running myself into the ground financially to do so because I can’t BARE to charge these struggling (often single income) families in crisis more than the bare minimum, because that would be all that I could afford.
I come at this as a specialist through experience. I am a PDA adult. I have four children and two of them are PDA with opposing presentations. I have been teaching for 12 years in professional settings and the past three in a Home Education context for my PDA kids. I have some experience. But I make sure that people understand that I am in this bush fire WITH them. I read and translate research and studies for the purpose of making PDA accessible to families while defunking myths and trying to create a little clarity in a space which is quickly filling with salespeople.
It’s demoralising.
Anyway. The whole At Peace Parents rip off makes me want to go over there and give the woman a piece of my mind for taking advantage of people like this.
I think there has to be *some* middle ground between financially suffering and absolutely predatory pricing. It’s so hard to navigate because we all live under capitalism and, well . . . *gestures broadly to the horrors.*
Honestly, I don’t know that I would take as much issue with the ridiculous pricing if it wasn’t marketed so deceptively. I can absolutely imagine myself *desperately* searching for solutions and emptying out my savings account because I think the “leading researcher” with a PhD and the “only proven effective program” can help me, right?!
After a couple of long days pouring over At Peace Parents website, it’s *wild* how different navigating your website is. I haven’t combed the whole site or anything, but what I’ve read is very carefully written so that it’s not overreaching, it’s only presenting *relevant* education and experience, and so on. A very different experience!
Wow, thank you for sharing. I’m a speech-language pathologist and have worked with several kids who have PDA. I get the desperation and could see parents taking out a loan for the at peace parents 😩 thank you for highlighting that her degree is in political science. The predatory nature of her business is awful. In my experience with PDA, one strategy could work one day and not the next. I also do not like that she once said it’s ok for kids to lie if they have PDA. I feel that sets them up for failure in any type of future relationship. No one likes being around a liar and employers would for sure fire you.
I’ll add myself to the list of folks who discovered PDA by way of At Peace Parenting, which ultimately led to an autism diagnosis. To her credit, she does put out a lot of free resources, and we found it very helpful when we were at our wits end.
Because PDA is so poorly described and understood, I really worry about people taking this article the wrong way, so I appreciate your disclaimer that you believe PDA is a real thing.
For us, the shift away from behaviorism was such a benefit. I wish there were more clinicians who actually understood that traditional behaviorist parenting does not work with PDA kids, because right now, that is what is driving people to influencers who validate what parents are actually going through.
I have said the same thjng to my partner about Casey Ehrlich for a long time. I’d looked up her credentials and saw her PhD was in poly sci and said exactly what you wrote here. Love your directness. As a mom of a pda kid, it makes me mad. People have commodified our kids and the desperation we feel as parents. I wonder why people are not asking themselves if they should be taking medical and mental health advice from influencers with no true credibility. I say this as a medical provider of 25 years - it matters where you get your information.
As a family psychologist who has treated highly demand avoidant kids for over 40 years, I am so grateful that you wrote this piece! I've been calling out these predatory influencers (and Casey Ehrlich in particular) for a while. Thinking I knew something about these kids and what works with them, I've joined several Facebook parent support groups for PDA (and one here on Reddit). Woof! That's been an experience to say the least. You're correct, these are echo chambers, and any voices that don't conform to the majority views (e.g., PDA is a nervous system disability, PDA kids can't change for the better, low demand parenting is the way to go, etc.) are loudly shouted down. I've been called every name in the book by both the influencers and the parents who gave them money. I try to politely give a science and clinically-based perspective, but I've been kicked out of these groups numerous times. Admins allow the bullying to occur, and it's clear that they suffer from the same biases and misinformation as the group members (and the same psychological incentives that prevent them from considering other perspectives. Thank you again for speaking out. I think we'll be reading more articles like this in the future, and I'm very much looking forward to that day.
Hello. I have participated in the *paid* Paradigm Shift Program and as far as I’m concerned it was worth every penny. This article reads as if you have an axe to grind against Casey Ehrlich, and it’s a shame that you are attempting to sway people from the benefits that At Peace Parents can offer to families in crisis.
I won’t debate about the science or the diagnoses; to be quite frank those are of far lesser importance to me than the methods that At Peace Parents teaches for managing and supporting children with PDA. I’m not being hyperbolic when I say the lessons and the support that were offered truly changed my life, and the lives of my PDA child and the rest of my family.
Prior to finding At Peace Parents I had dealt with our school district and special ed classes and the IU specialists, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, ABA therapy…. At age 8 my son had an inpatient hospitalization at a behavioral hospital (something I deeply regret after learning what I now know from the Paradigm Shift Program). All of these professionals offered some kind of solution - token economies, reward systems, meds, meds, and more meds…. Guess what? None of that worked, but I stayed the course because that’s what the ‘professionals’ were telling me to do. Oh, and none of them had ever heard of or gave creedence to the idea of ‘PDA’. And guess what else? ALL of those professionals are PAID to offer their ‘solutions’. Some were paid through my insurance, some were paid by way of the taxes I pay, some were paid directly out of my pocket. This is their career and it’s how they spend their 9-5 so it’s how they support themselves and their families. Is that predatory?
At Peace Parents, and Casey Ehrlich specifically, provided me with a framework to support my child in the way that he needs, and the result has been dramatic. I cry when I think about the years of trauma that built up listening to the other professionals and the time lost doing so. I only wish that I had learned about At Peace Parents and the Paradigm Shift Program sooner. It would have been worth 10x what I paid for it.
Really the only point I’m trying to make is that from my point of view, the $1200 for the Paradigm Shift Program was some of the best money I’ve ever spent.
I don’t think I’m going to convince you to change your opinion, and that’s not my intention. I just want to offer some perspective from someone who has spent the money and found the value in it so that other people reading this article might see it. The article makes Casey Ehrlich sound like a tik tok influencer shilling snake oil potions for a commission. That wasn’t my experience at all, and if I had read this prior to enrolling in the paradigm shift program it probably would have swayed me from doing the very thing which I credit with saving my family. We were in crisis. I was hopeless. Despondent. Desperate. Nothing was working. I dreaded each and every day. I’m a single parent of 3 and I work full time in a demanding job, and supporting a PDA kid when no one else knows or understands what it’s like and they all have their opinions on what you should do felt like a special rung of hell. The Paradigm Shift program rescued me and my family from that.
Since the cost seems to be a sticking point, I’ll just point out that I had spent a lot more money trying to support my PDA kid before I found At Peace Parents. Endless co-pays and deductibles. I had to pay $1000 just to get an ADOS test to show an ASD diagnosis in order for my insurance to cover their share of ABA and this was after we already had an ASD (level 2) diagnosis from a psychologist and a psychiatrist. If I had found At Peace Parents sooner, I actually would have saved a great deal of money.
Does the paradigm shift program borrow from other people’s philosophies? I’m sure it does. I’m also quite certain that every therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, special ed teacher, BCBA, etc. that we ever saw utilizes skills and practices that someone else had researched and developed and that they learned about in their schooling/training.
I know that At Peace Parents offers a great deal of content for free, and I believe recordings of master classes are available for reasonable prices (I could be wrong about this). The paradigm shift program offers a more intimate, guided journey through the methods Casey uses. It also fosters a community of parents and care givers which is an enormous benefit to all of us who feel like we’re going through this alone and no one else understands. Many of us are still in touch. Did you even consider contacting anyone who’s participated in the Paradigm Shift Program before you formed your opinion that it’s predatory due to cost and marketing?
I know I sound defensive. I feel strongly about the value that At Peace Parents added to my life. It may not be for everyone, and there may well be others out there who could have helped me similarly or maybe even better, but I hadn’t stumbled upon them.
I strongly urge anyone reading this who is currently in crisis with a PDA child not to be dismissive of what At Peace Parents has to offer based on the reasons given in this article.
Again, I’m genuinely glad that you found a lot of value in your purchase.
“The article makes Casey Ehrlich sound like a tik tok influencer shilling snake oil potions for a commission.”
I think you meant this as hyperbole, but I don’t know that I would say this characterization is entirely unfair. Ehrlich certainly is a TikTok influencer with 243,000+ followers. She also uses deceptive marketing to present her product as not only more evidence-based than it is, but as the only evidence based program for her target audience, and ignores common ethical standards dictating that credentials should be used to signify authority outside the domain of her research.
Again, this is not a critique of the program content—that would be a whole different article.
I’m also not against all programs and treatments outside of the standard medical framework. I’m a huge fan of Andrew Solomon’s Ted Talk ‘Depression, the secret we share,’ where he says:
“If you have brain cancer, and you say that standing on your head for 20 minutes every morning makes you feel better, it may make you feel better, but you still have brain cancer, and you'll still probably die from it. But if you say that you have depression, and standing on your head for 20 minutes every day makes you feel better, then it's worked, because depression is an illness of how you feel, and if you feel better, then you are effectively not depressed anymore. So I became much more tolerant of the vast world of alternative treatments.”
And this is a view I share on mental wellness treatments, programs, and so on—the problem isn’t necessarily that her program isn’t evidence based. The problem is that she’s intentionally presenting it as evidence based when it’s not.
‘This is a coaching program I developed based on my experiences with my PDA child,’ is a substantially different claim than ‘this is the only evidence based coaching program for PDA, developed by me, the leading researcher in the United States.’
“Does the paradigm shift program borrow from other people’s philosophies? I’m sure it does. I’m also quite certain that every therapist, psychologist, psychiatrist, special ed teacher, BCBA, etc. that we ever saw utilizes skills and practices that someone else had researched and developed and that they learned about in their schooling/training.”
This isn’t really the point of the article, but I brought it up, so that’s on me. I do think there’s a meaningful difference between using other people’s knowledge and research to inform your practice and repackaging other people’s work as a proprietary program and marketing that repackaged work as the ‘only evidence based’ program.
“Since the cost seems to be a sticking point, I’ll just point out that I had spent a lot more money trying to support my PDA kid before I found At Peace Parents.”
I don't doubt it. U.S. healthcare is broken, and you won’t find me defending the hellish system you were forced to navigate. My concern is that people are being sold on the idea that this is the only evidence-based option when it’s not evidence-based at all, leading clients to make purchasing decisions under the belief that this program is uniquely credentialed when it isn't.
Why would a parent in crisis do any sort of cost-comparison if they’ve been sold on the idea that this program is the only one backed by science due to deceptive marketing?
“Did you even consider contacting anyone who’s participated in the Paradigm Shift Program before you formed your opinion that it’s predatory due to cost and marketing?”
I’m active in a lot of PDA-focused forums and groups, so I’ve read accounts from many people who have engaged with Ehrlich’s work, including other people who have positive opinions about it.
Again, this isn't a review of the program's content or the community surrounding it. I’m not trying to tell you that the program didn’t help you personally, or that no one else has ever found value in it.
But testimonials from satisfied participants, however genuine, don't change whether or not the marketing claims are accurate—and they’re not.
“I strongly urge anyone reading this who is currently in crisis with a PDA child not to be dismissive of what At Peace Parents has to offer based on the reasons given in this article.”
I would urge anyone reading this who is currently in a crisis with a PDA child to not take this article or any single article as the definitive word on anything.
I’m glad you found value in the program you purchased, but that doesn't change the fact that the marketing is predatory. If someone claims to be the "leading researcher in the U.S." with the "only proven effective" program, they need to be able to back that up, especially when their target audience is families in crisis.
Again, I’m not arguing for compliance-based behaviorist practices like tokens, sticker charts, ‘consequences,’ etc. as I believe these practices are outdated across the board. I’m opposed to ABA. I certainly don’t advise people to take medication that isn’t helping them, though I would encourage general awareness that it’s common for the process of finding effective mental-health meds to be (infuriatingly) trial-and-error.
I used acupuncture during infertility treatments and found it incredibly helpful, but I’d have a *major* issue if my acupuncturist claimed to have the only evidence-based infertility program to upsell a premium product to desperate people. Paid services aren't inherently predatory, but using wildly exaggerated marketing to sell expensive products to vulnerable people absolutely is.
I do have issues with some of the material At Peace Parents presents, including criticism that her content heavily repackages concepts from PDA writers like Kristy Forbes, which I think has a lot of merit. But she could have the most useful, original program in the world and it still wouldn't justify the deceptive marketing. Falsely inflating your credentials to sell an expensive product to families in crisis is fundamentally unethical, full stop.
Ugh! I am so grateful you pulled together these facts, and I hate to see how Casey‘s work has developed!
I followed her when she only just begun sharing about her own kids and building awareness about PDA, and she sounded very genuine back then.
At some point, greediness and money-grabbing must have kicked in - which is so sad! We must all earn our living, but not by ripping off people who are already struggling…
Agree! I get that we all live under capitalism and people need to eat. I can give people some grace in marketing their products, but this is way, way over the line.
Thanks for the in-depth expose. I hope people thoroughly read the breakdown you provide of the dishonest marketing mechanisms used to manipulate desperate people seeking support and solutions. I'd come across criticism of At Peace Parents before, so that bit wasn't new, but the amount being charged is breath-taking.
We are a family who have put up with vague symptoms for decades that could be caused by a number of things but none of them clinically diagnosable, but slowly and surely medical science is providing answers, but more importantly starting to recognise that we aren't and were never making it all up.
PDA answers questions about who I am and why I am the way I am and I have found that helpful.
Wow. 😮
Oof. You are the second person this week to call her out. I have mixed feelings. 1) Her podcast was how I finally put a finger on why my oldest was struggling so much after a major mental health crash/crisis (she has internalized PDA). She gave me the language to talk about it. 2) PDA feels like a disability a lot of the time. I guess since it’s paired with autism and/or ADHD it technically is? 3) The coaching prices ARE downright predatory, and I fully agree that the claims are pretty wild and not cool.
All three of those things can absolutely be true at the same time, IMO.
Having language to describe your experiences is *huge* and I don’t think the impact of that is undone by the rest of it. I generally think the discourse around PDA is a net benefit for PDAers and caregivers alike. When I was a kid (in ancient times, before we all had the internet) kids showing ‘extreme’ avoidance were sorted into oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), or “I dunno, they’re just bad.” The only ‘support’ my mom was offered was a suggestion that she surrender custody to DCFS.
"This helped me" definitely doesn't need to clear the same bar as a scientific claim. The problem isn't that PDA-the-concept took off before we really understand PDA, it’s that people are profiting off claims that have no evidence behind them—especially when they *know* those claims have no evidence and still present them otherwise.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! If you have a link to the other post about At Peace Parents feel free to drop it here, I’m nosy 😅
Here’s the link! https://naomicfisher.substack.com/p/no-pda-is-not-a-nervous-system-disorder?r=3780z&utm_medium=ios
Thanks for sharing!! I agree with most of this article (no comment on Naomi Fisher in general at this point—I’m not familiar enough with her work and I know she has several ongoing controversies as the commenter below pointed out!
“When you tell a child they have a nervous system disability, you turn behaviour into something beyond their control. You tell them that they have a neurobiological disorder, and they hear that there is no hope of change.” —— this statement seems like a such a reach to me, though.
I wouldn’t tell PDA kids they have a distinct nervous system disability because there’s no evidence that supports that, but knowing you have a biomedical condition doesn’t mean “Welp, it’s out of your control, just give up!”
Like, I have a kid with cerebral palsy, which pretty much everyone can agree is a neurological condition, but symptoms can still be managed, improved, and accommodated. That doesn’t seem that different to me from a neurodevelopmental disorder or behavioral profile—it’s not entirely in your control, but the hand you were dealt and you have to learn to play with it.
I am not a supporter anymore of Naomi Fisher since I discovered that she publishes some very incendiary opinions (such as „neurodivergent children should not be told that they are ND“) as well as links to heavily biased Stacks like „Christianity on the Spectrum“ … just my personal opinion!
That’s good to know! I’ve learned a lot about her opinions in the past few weeks that have genuinely surprised me. I started following her because I really liked one of her books. It seems that because she did her Ph.d in autism in the early 2000s, she has a lot of strong opinions that often contrast with people who are actually neurodivergent.
Oh…damn…this is so discouraging to read. Please hear me that I’m not seeking to discount anything you’ve written; it’s all accurate. I’m just at the end of my rope despite over a year of doing my best to investigate how to help my PDA kid (and my autistic self, let’s be real) and I’ve definitely been following At Peace Parenting for a good portion of that. I haven’t bought any of what she’s hawking, but I *am* right in the thick of seeking local support and diagnosis. I hate the sensation of trusting someone for help and realizing I’ve been had with so many hopes pinned on their aid. The fact that PDA research is newly emerging despite the phrase being around for 40 years is so discouraging. And so we trudge on…
Thank you for your statistical analysis and the time you took to establish the reality check.
You’ve been reading, researching, and trying to wrap your head around how to best help your kid (and yourself) for *over a year.* That struggle is real and it’s absolutely exhausting.
Just to be clear, I don't think trying to find helpful information is ever a waste of time. When something is unlikely to be harmful and *might* be helpful, I’m all about trial and error, taking what works and leaving the rest. That's really the only way I know how to find anything useful when research and tangible support barely exists.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts ❤️
Same! She did have the answers I needed (oh! This is PDA), but I was a hell no to those prices. So yeah, mixed feelings.
SENDinMama has always been my initial metric (see her comment above), for which I am very grateful.
I’ve not bought into any of At Peace Parenting’s materials but it’s still discouraging to recognize
I absolutely love this. I couldn’t agree with you more. I am a person that offers PDA services to families and I am running myself into the ground financially to do so because I can’t BARE to charge these struggling (often single income) families in crisis more than the bare minimum, because that would be all that I could afford.
I come at this as a specialist through experience. I am a PDA adult. I have four children and two of them are PDA with opposing presentations. I have been teaching for 12 years in professional settings and the past three in a Home Education context for my PDA kids. I have some experience. But I make sure that people understand that I am in this bush fire WITH them. I read and translate research and studies for the purpose of making PDA accessible to families while defunking myths and trying to create a little clarity in a space which is quickly filling with salespeople.
It’s demoralising.
Anyway. The whole At Peace Parents rip off makes me want to go over there and give the woman a piece of my mind for taking advantage of people like this.
Phew. That’s off my chest. Thanks 🙏🏼
I think there has to be *some* middle ground between financially suffering and absolutely predatory pricing. It’s so hard to navigate because we all live under capitalism and, well . . . *gestures broadly to the horrors.*
Honestly, I don’t know that I would take as much issue with the ridiculous pricing if it wasn’t marketed so deceptively. I can absolutely imagine myself *desperately* searching for solutions and emptying out my savings account because I think the “leading researcher” with a PhD and the “only proven effective program” can help me, right?!
After a couple of long days pouring over At Peace Parents website, it’s *wild* how different navigating your website is. I haven’t combed the whole site or anything, but what I’ve read is very carefully written so that it’s not overreaching, it’s only presenting *relevant* education and experience, and so on. A very different experience!
I must admit I am relieved to hear that 😅 my heart dropped when I first started reading your article as I feared I would be on that list!
You made me laugh out loud with the gesturing to the horrors comment 😂 What is happening out there?!