The Alternative Provision Podcast: Teach the brain you have Part 2 – low-demand, high-trust classrooms
Award-winning journalist and author Jessie Hewitson joins Amy for part two of our conversation on teaching neurodivergent learners. We dive into demand avoidance (including PDA profiles), the everyday language shifts that reduce anxiety, and how to build low-demand, high-trust classrooms where learning can happen.
Together we unpack:
- Why “can’t, not won’t” reframes behaviour and opens up problem-solving
- PDA as a profile of autism: the brain experiencing demands (even wanted ones) as threats
- Practical, low-demand strategies: declarative language, collaborative phrasing, humour, and using special interests
- PACE (playful, accepting, curious, empathic) and polyvagal-informed practice to create safety and flow
- De-escalation that starts with the adult nervous system
- What new teachers really need: executive function, monotropism, and demand avoidance literacy
- Why the future is “inclusive by design” and what’s giving us hope
Listen to the full episode
Our speakers
Jessie Hewitson is a journalist for The Times, The Sunday Times and the i, and a leading voice on autism, ADHD and demand avoidance. She has worked with the PDA Society and writes from both professional and parent perspectives.
Find her books, ‘How to raise a happy autistic child’ and ‘How to raise a happy ADHD child’ and in all good book stores.
Amy Husband is the Executive Head of Academy21. Before joining Academy21, Amy worked in several leadership positions in both Primary and Secondary settings. She also held MAT-wide responsibility for Safeguarding, Inclusion and School Improvement and was awarded ‘Evidence Lead in Education’ status in 2020.
