Mum waits 3 years for autism diagnosis for child - yet transgender diagnosis took a few months.

I guess the trouble is that gender dysphoria isn't classified as an illness or disorder, so it would be viewed as tantamount to conversion therapy to suggest that the person experiencing gender dysphoria is mistaken.

And when you add to that the fact that no-one can possibly refute someone's perception of their own gender if you accept that gender is innate and an actual internal experience, there's really not much scope for a clinician to suggest an alternative explanation without worrying about their own career and what they've been told is best practice.

The other difficulty with the current thinking around gender identity from a sociological standpoint (looking at privilege, etc) is that gender identity is often viewed as something that's completely unnoticeable unless gender dysphoria is present. So the very fact that someone is "aware" of their sense of gender indicates the presence of dysphoria by definition. Bizarre that no-one thought to check with the millions of women who've felt constrained by gender expectations their whole lives, but there you go.

My sister took years to get a dyslexia diagnosis for her child - and almost a year for her (my sisters) terminal diagnosis.

Any psychologist/therapist worth their salt will NOT make a snap diagnosis or rush to confirm a patient/parent's pre-existing assumptions. It sounds like sympathetic counsellors/doctors/practitioners just rubber stamping.

Do we feel Tavistock etc MUST include autism expert professionals in their team and a requirement for full assessment as a key part of a young person's diagnosis and care?

I think what they need is a solid understanding of the experience of neurodivergence (especially undiagnosed neurodivergence) because IMO, that's key to realising what a young person (or anyone) is talking about when they describe their experience of feeling they're in the wrong body/the wrong gender.

However, I don't believe this would work in the context of a specialised gender identity clinic because to someone with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

I think there should be a policy change whereby a young person has to be seen by CAMHS first and they have to screen for other possible issues before referring on. But even with this, it's really difficult for anyone to discount gender dysphoria as a feasible option while people continue to believe that 'gender' exists as an innate characteristic.

Is Mienna trans?

It sounds to me like this little girl is desperate for the adults around her to take responsibility and tell her she's perfect just as she is. But instead they're all sitting back and waiting for her to decide. They've absolved themselves of all responsibility and dumped it instead on the shoulders of a vulnerable child.

@LonginesPrime I had the same experience growing up. I didn’t feel like what I thought a girl should be and my mum did reinforce gender stereotypes. I think coupled with no fitting in, I could’ve swallowed the whole transgender ideology if it had been around.

I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder but strongly suspect adhd as I’m a lot older now and I don’t have many of the traits of borderline personality plus two of my children have adhd.

I do think gender clinics should look harder at things and have a team in place.

They can also change their mind and come off the hormone-blockers before reaching a further stage, at which time puberty would happen normally.

Sick of seeing this. In theory it seems correct (if you ignore the side effects f course, which can be horrendous) but in practise, once kids are on them, they will go onto cross sex hormones. When you consider without blockers 80-90% of kids desist, and 0% when medicated, then surely its obviously theres a huge issue somewhere and they certainly are not as easy to stop as made out.

But would it actually help having an autism expert on board when even the likes of the National Autistic Society are taken in by genderideology, and when Mermaids promote transitioning as a 'cure'?

Interesting set of stories on the Fail today
the one about Hollie Branson "living as a boy" for six years and then deciding she was a girl
with her parents supporting but not intervening
is interesting

When I hear trans people speak of how they realised growing up that something wasn't right and they felt different from others and struggled to conform to societal expectations, it resonates so strongly with my own experience of trying to conform to neurotypical expectations with an undiagnosed neurodevelopmental disorder.

I wasn't diagnosed as neurodivergent (ADHD) until my late 30s, but I had spent my whole life feeling I didn't fit in and desperately trying to figure out why.

The only reason I never considered gender dysphoria as an explanation was because I've always had a firm belief that gender's a social construct, so that explanation would have made no logical sense to me. But if I had believed that gender was an actual thing, I absolutely would have taken gender dysphoria to be a plausible explanation, because the trans existential experience appears identical to my own.

I don't think many people realise how much neurodivergence can affect people's self-perception and their experience of the world, and I personally believe that this is the reason for many misdiagnoses of gender dysphoria.

IMO, neurodevelopmental disorders should be ruled out as part of a gender dysphoria diagnosis, because ASD and ADHD (and any sensory/executive dysfunction) can have such a significant impact on one's perception and sense of self, along with a lack of awareness on the part of the patient.

Does the child know they cannot actually change sex? That the most they can achieve is a facsimile of the sex they wish to be? It sounds very much like they think they actually have a choice of which sex they want to be.

‘Affirmation’ affirms a lie which young children (and some adults it seems) think is literally true.

Did she feel guilt, given that just a year earlier she’d changed Dexter’s name by deed poll, legally validating her son’s decision? ‘I questioned whether it had been the right thing to do,’ she admits, but insists: ‘It was the right thing to do at the time because he was so distressed

This is an important paragraph. Why, when the child was younger were they not given a cardboard box, that was destined for recycling, to relieve their distress?

Declassifying gender dysphoria as a mental health issue, means that only specialist services, The Tavistock, can deal with prescribing, etc. GPs can’t prescribe anti-depressants for youth under the age of 17. So Tavistock refer on to endocrinologists for puberty blockers and to psychiatrists for anti-depressants, etc.

Following on from the above - once prescribed anti-depressants, the patient should be reviewed by a psychiatrist until stable. Most local services only have 1 child and adolescent psychiatrist. The referrals back from the Tavistock overwhelm the local services, so patients referred by the GP to CAMHS are facing huge waits. In our area you will only receive intervention if you’re actively suicidal, even then it’s not guaranteed (my daughter’s urgent psychiatrist appointment is not until November, which’ll be 7 months after her recent attempt).

It’s not intentional, it’s just circumstance.

There has been quite a lot of media attention on this family over the years

Hmm.

I'm intrigued by the sentence at the end of the article, it appears to summarise the headline?
A gender clinic has agreed to help this boy even though he admits he may still change his mind
that seems to imply that if he was uncertain about being transgender they might have decided not to help him? I may have read that wrong.

There has been quite a lot of media attention on this family over the years and during their appearance on This Morning she mentioned that he liked 'superhero' outfits 'boys clothes' which are more comfortable and practical - which, if he is autistic with enormous sensory issues, could explain a lot. She seems quite glamorous in her pics so if her style was reflected in her choice of girls clothes for her child, they might well have been very uncomfortable to an autistic child. I am not autistic but I remember refusing to wear certain designs of knickers, polo necks and dresses purely because of the discomfort.

Does anyone who work for the NHS know why transgender treatment take priority?

I was having a conversation with a surgeon friend of mine the other day who mentioned this, but I didn't get to find out how they take priority over someone who needs treatment for obesity for example.

the Tavistock should have it’s own autism assessment team, not refer back to local services who don’t provide gender services. The Tavistock should be investigating the prevalence of ASD traits themselves, not just thinking it’s an interesting phenomenon.

I strongly agree. The Tavistock is letting down some service users in a way that will probably cost some of their units their existence at some point. (Apologies the repeated 'some' but I couldn't come up with another way to express it.)

Family friends are dealing with a teen who socially transitioned to an NB with a different presentation to birth sex and was planning for a full transition. It seems to have been very mixed up with problems at school, difficulty socialising, and retreating into the arms of the YouTube family that encouraged transitioning. The lockdown has nudged the family towards recognising that gender identity is masking other profound MH issues for which comparatively little assistance is available.

I have every sympathy with the mother regarding getting help. The decoupling of gender dysphoria from mental health will have exacerbated their problems. Any distress from gender dysphoria will be dealt with by the Tavistock as not in the remit of NHS mental health trusts. Any non transgender issues Dexter has will be addressed by the normal NHS time scale - super slow.

In my view the Tavistock should have it’s own autism assessment team, not refer back to local services who don’t provide gender services. The Tavistock should be investigating the prevalence of ASD traits themselves, not just thinking it’s an interesting phenomenon.

There’s a few interesting snippets from that article - where the mum was surprised the local mental health team had no record of Dexter being born a girl. This is where activism has got us. An important facet of a child’s history is erased because noting they’d been born a different sex is transphobic. The mum sounds so confused by it all.

At the moment I’m finding it hard to be reasonable. We’ve been through 4 years of gender dysphoria (now resolved) and are still waiting for an autism assessment - 7 years after first asking. We’re told traits are due to different conditions, she’ll grow out of them, she makes eye contact, etc, etc, etc. We’ve had two suicide attempts, one very recently. Since her attempt right at the beginning of lockdown, she has not seen any mental heath professional. This is the reality of bog standard mental health provision in the UK.

Most young children will desist by puberty and the Tavi knows this so why don’t they use watchful waiting with therapeutic support? It sounds as though this mother hasn’t been pushing it herself, that she’s been conflicted and trying to do what is best for her child as guided by the Tavi.

The disconnect between autism diagnosis and gender dysphoria diagnosis is appalling. My daughter is older (15), but as soon as her GP heard “gender issues” she refused to refer my daughter (then 14) for an autism diagnosis and instead put her straight on the waiting list for GIDS.

IT MAKES NO SENSE.

Good God. What a mess. This is such an awful case.

This is so sad. Both my daughters have autism and one I’m watching closely so she doesn’t get drawn into this whole gender thing as she wears boys clothing, likes her hair short and really isn’t liking her body changing. I’m so aware that it would be easy being autistic to be told she’s actually transgender. I know another mum whose son is in his teens and they feel he’s transgender and they want to help him explore his “female gender identity”. There are probably so many kids crying out for an autism diagnosis but instead they end up at Tavistock.

She recalls the first time Dexter professed doubts about being a boy, in early 2019. ‘He was very distressed. He said he felt he wanted to be a girl but was embarrassed.′

'He said, “The problem is I’m older now and everyone will ask questions. It’s not the same as when I went from Talia to Dexter, because I was little,”’ says Mienna. ‘I was heartbroken. My biggest fear is that having said he’s Dexter, he feels trapped in this situation.

‘I told him I’d love and support him whatever and make the ride as smooth as possible, but it’s going to be bumpy, isn’t it?’

So now that the trans train is in motion, having been 'affirmed' as Dexter their whole life, the child is now scared and embarrassed to backtrack? And their name has been changed by deed poll to something they chose when they were 5?

That poor kid.