Teaching children to recognise the sex of individuals

OP, I just remembered that in the autumn term I have to do receptive language assessment on children and the pictures are very obviously stereotypically boys/girls in the pronouns pictures. At this stage of their development I think stereotyped pictures are needed because you have to start right from scratch.

If I understand you correctly, the situation is something like this:

You: Can you read this?
Child: Wilma rode her bike to the park.
You:Well done:
Child:Did he ride it back again?
You:Did she ride it back again? Yes I think she did.
Child:Why is it she?
You: Because Wilma is a girl
Child:How can I tell?
You:?

Is that it?
If so - the answer is - for most people you know. If you don't know you can ask. If it is a picture the book might tell you. Most names a either usually for girls or usually for boys, but some are not. It is always OK to ask if you don't know.

Would that work?

I'm not sure the normal rules apply for teaching young children and children with autism about boys/girls and he/she. If it's a SALT specific activity with pictures then the boys/girls would have to be stereotypical looking for teaching about the pronouns. I am not sure there is a way around it. Well, I can't think of one atm.

However, the activities they are doing in the pictures can be mixed up. She is a doctor, astronaut/she is playing with construction, trains. He is dressing up as a princess/playing in the home corner. etc.

Heading off to find my long lost cousin Bunbury.

And yes it does say something about my character. It says I am not a twat.

Stereotypes are stereotypes precisely because the vast majority of people conform to them. In general, stereotypes plus secondary sex characteristics are the main way we identify people, and in most cases we’ll be correct. I think that’s fine as long as you’re also highlighting that some people don’t conform and that’s ok too.

Go rogue ? Eh what now ?
You clearly have absolutely no experience of children with severe autism.

But the phrasing made it unclear whether the OP wanted to teach their students to intentionally misgender trans people.

Olympic level jump in thinking here.

@SirVixofVixHall You think it's ethical for a teacher to go rogue and teach children to intentionally misgender trans people?

That says a lot about your character.

But the phrasing made it unclear whether the OP wanted to teach their students to intentionally misgender trans people.

I just wanted to clarify that this isn't the case because it would be incredibly unethical.

yeahbutnaw

Using pronouns correctly can be hard for children with autism, even when referring to people who are not trans.

Most children learn without needing explicit teaching that Mr Jones is "he" and Emily is "she". But some children with autism find this harder. They might use "he" for everyone, or rely on an unreliable cue - like wearing a school summer dress - to distinguish boys and girls.

If explicit teaching is needed, it might require some fairly crude stereotypes at the beginning: Mr Jones has a beard so you can see he is a man and you say "he"; Emily is wearing a dress so she is a girl and you use "she". But it is important to teach this stuff, even if it seems a bit cringey - you don't want a vulnerable young person to be put at risk because they either inadvertently refer to a man with a female pronoun and get beaten up; or because they aren't able to recognise a dangerous situation. We teach young children not to get in a car with / accept food from / go off with a strange man as basic safeguarding. But that relies on being able to explain to a child which people are men and which are women.

Interesting question. Can I ask - is this something you find you need to do because the children you support are (and always would have been, even before the gender debate) because of their ASD, unable to differentiate between girls and boys, women and men in the way that most other children and adults are normally able to very well? Or is it something you need to do specifically because the current issues around gender, preferred pronouns etc are making this difficult for them?

Can you clarify what you mean by "using pronouns correctly"?

Surely you mean using the pronouns that each student/teacher has requested they be referred to by? You don't intend to teach your students to misgender trans students/teachers, do you?

Let’s not bring misgendering as an issue into KS1. He/she/it (for animals we don’t know the sex of) is fine. Adult modelling correct language and correcting misconceptions are bread and butter of teaching.

Well, for Biff, Chip and Kipper the clues will be in the text. Chip and Kipper are referred to as "he", Biff and Wilma as "she". For their classmates, use "he" or "she" if they know the child and know whether they are a boy or girl because they've said so. If they don't know, then use "they" until they get any further information.

Wilma is a gir’s name. Kipper is Kipper. Most children say he for animals. I always say how do you know it’s a boy? It generates a discussion.

I would just model the language. If they say “she took my pen” you say “yes he took your pen.” Sometimes I qualify it by saying “Ben is a boy so we say he.” Very common in young children and some children who speak a different language at home. Lots of children think a girl is a boy or vice versa if they have short hair/long hair. I just say “Anne is a girl who has short hair” or “Terry is a boy. Some boys have long hair”.