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Appendix E

Evidence Base

Free Chapter

A tool for the sceptical co-parent, the school support team, or your own reassurance. This appendix highlights the key scientific claims in each chapter and the research that supports them. Use this when you need to show that your parenting choices are based on data, not just opinion.

Chapter 1: Cartographers of Uncharted Waters

Claim: Parenting a neurodivergent child involves significantly higher stress levels than typical parenting—comparable to combat soldiers or caregivers of the elderly.

  • Evidence: "Stress Assessment in Parents of Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Prospective Case-Control Study" (PubMed, 2024).
  • Evidence: "Autism and Maternal Stress" (Psychology Today, 2021).

Claim: Divorce rates are higher in families with ADHD/Autism, but not as high as the "80%" myth suggests.

  • Evidence: "Autism and ADHD: A Literature Review Regarding Their Impacts on Parental Divorce" (PMC, 2023).

Claim: Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is a distinct profile characterised by an anxiety-driven need for autonomy.

  • Evidence: "Understanding Pathological Demand Avoidance" (Momwell).

Chapter 2: Understanding the Waters

Claim: ADHD is not a deficit of attention, but a dysregulation of the dopamine reward system.

  • Evidence: "Evaluating Dopamine Reward Pathway in ADHD" (JAMA, 2009).
  • Evidence: "Behavioural inhibition, sustained attention, and executive functions" (Psychological Bulletin, 1997).

Claim: Autism involves hyper-connectivity in local neural networks, leading to sensory overwhelm ("Sensory Cliffs").

  • Evidence: "Deficit, difference, or both? Autism and neurodiversity" (Developmental Psychology).

Claim: ODD is often a stress response or "threat-biased neuroception," not just willful bad behaviour.

  • Evidence: "Oppositional Defiance or Faulty Neuroception?" (Dr. Mona Delahooke).
  • Evidence: "Impact of Comorbid Oppositional Defiant Disorder on... ADHD" (PMC, 2023).

Chapter 3: Two Captains, One Ship

Claim: Chronic interparental conflict is damaging to children, causing internalizing and externalizing behaviours.

  • Evidence: "Children’s Responses to Interparental Conflict: A Meta-Analysis" (Child Development, 2008).

Claim: Co-regulation (a parent calming a child) is the biological precursor to self-regulation.

  • Evidence: "Coregulation: A Multilevel Approach via Biology and Behaviour" (PMC, 2021).
  • Evidence: "Understanding the Parent-Child Coregulation Patterns" (PMC, 2020).

Claim: Parallel Parenting is a valid, protective strategy for high-conflict families.

  • Evidence: "Parallel Parenting vs. Cooperative Co-Parenting" (Shared Parenting).
  • Evidence: "The Application of the Polyvagal Theory to High Conflict Co‐Parenting Cases" (ResearchGate).

Chapter 4: The Morning Passage

Claim: "Sleep Inertia" causes cognitive impairment upon waking, especially in ADHD.

  • Evidence: "Sleep inertia" (Sleep Medicine Reviews, 2000).

Claim: Visual supports (checklists, schedules) reduce the load on working memory.

  • Evidence: "Talking Picture Schedules: Embedding Video Models..." (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2015).

Claim: Declarative language ("The shoes are here") reduces resistance in PDA children compared to imperatives ("Put on your shoes").

  • Evidence: "Extreme/'pathological' demand avoidance: an overview" (Paediatrics and Child Health, 2018).

Chapter 5: Stormy Seas

Claim: A meltdown is a physiological "Amygdala Hijack," distinct from a goal-driven tantrum.

  • Evidence: "The role of the amygdala in human fear: Automatic detection of threat" (Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2005).
  • Evidence: "Autism Meltdown vs Tantrum: 5 Key Differences" (ABA Centres of Florida).

Claim: Punishing a meltdown increases stress hormones and can worsen behaviour.

  • Evidence: "Effective Consequences for ADHD Kids" (Empowering Parents).

Claim: Sensory overload is a primary driver of behavioural outbursts in autism.

  • Evidence: "A Meta-Analysis of Sensory Modulation Symptoms in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders" (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2009).

Chapter 6: Bridging Two Worlds

Claim: Transitions are cognitively expensive "context switches" that deplete executive function.

  • Evidence: "Frontostriatal Involvement in Task Switching" (PMC, 2019).

Claim: "Restraint Collapse" occurs when a child masks their symptoms in one environment (school/mum's) and releases them in a safe environment (home/Dad's).

  • Evidence: "Putting on My Best Normal: Social Camouflaging in Adults with Autism" (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2017).

Chapter 7: School and Beyond

Claim: Parents are key participants in education support planning under Australian disability standards.

  • Evidence: Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) and Disability Standards for Education 2005 (Commonwealth).

Claim: ADHD children benefit from active movement and sensory breaks to maintain focus.

  • Evidence: "The Multimodal Treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Study (MTA)" (NIMH).

Chapter 8: The Wider Village

Claim: Social support buffers parental stress and resilience.

  • Evidence: "Correlation between resilience and social support in mothers of young children with autism" (PMC, 2023).

Claim: Grandparents play a crucial but complex role in the family system of autistic children.

  • Evidence: "The Role of Grandparents in Supporting Families... A Family Systems Approach" (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 2018).

Chapter 9: The Caring Compass

Claim: Parental burnout is a distinct clinical phenomenon, different from ordinary stress.

  • Evidence: "Parental Burnout Assessment (PBA)" (ResearchGate).

Claim: Vagus nerve stimulation (e.g., cold water, deep breathing) can physiologically reset the nervous system.

  • Evidence: "5 Vagus Nerve Exercises to Try When You Need to Calm Down" (UVA Health).

Chapter 10: New Horizons

Claim: Puberty hormones can exacerbate ADHD and sensory symptoms.

  • Evidence: "The Impact of Sex, Puberty, and Hormones on White Matter Microstructure" (Cerebral Cortex, 2012).

Claim: ADHD teens have a higher risk of driving accidents due to executive function delays.

  • Evidence: "Driving and Road Rage Associated with ADHD: a Systematic Review" (Current Developmental Disorders Reports, 2019).

Chapter 11: The Voyage Continues

Claim: Neuroplasticity allows both parents and children to learn new regulation skills throughout life.

  • Evidence: "Neuroplasticity of children in autism spectrum disorder" (PMC, 2024).

Claim: Acceptance and Affirming parenting styles lead to better long-term mental health outcomes for autistic adults.

  • Evidence: "The autism constellation and neurodiversity: Long-term and adult outcomes" (PMC).
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