Pathological Demand Avoidance or Pathological Demand Anxiety?

Many children with a diagnosis of Autism display signs of Pathological Demand Avoidance and perform best when they are given choices. Having worked with these kind of children, I have come to realise that the root cause of their demand avoidance is, in many cases, anxiety that they may not live up to the demands put on them. Some of them are perfectionists who have to get things just right. So, when you ask them to do something, give them a choice. It may be as simple as: "Do you want to do it this way or that?" They need to feel that what they are doing they are doing for themselves and not to please someone else. That way, they can relax about how well the action turns out.