NHS to test all 'transgender' children for autism / same-sex attraction

[Pluvia]

This is the archive link to the Telegraph article so that everyone can read it:

http://archive.today/CnELA

As a result of the Cass Review, all children presenting as transgender will be assessed for autism and same-sex attraction. Excellent news all round. Looks like they're going to stop sterilising autistic children and training away the gay.

So proud to be a terf of terf island. We changed this. We saved some kids, at least, a lifetime of medication and isolation.

Hopefully this will support young people with autism

That is such good news!

How can we get it to be made a consideration for YP who are now adults but still grew up under these conditions

Wow!
The tide really is turning. Just hope they don't have years to wait for appointments.

Excellent idea and long overdue as clinicians have recognised this overlap for many, many years.

Autism yes, although good luck with that given how many kids wait years for so much as an assessment. But testimg for same sex attraction just sounds really off and intrusive.

How do you test someone for same sex attraction? Especially children below puberty?
Wave pictures of naked men and women and ask them to score each out of ten how for horny they feel?!

And I don't see what difference it makes if they are autistic or not? They should be getting support for that anyway regardless of who or what they are claiming to identify as?

They won’t be getting support unless autism (or another neurodevelopmental condition) has already been diagnosed though, will they?
And if it’s already diagnosed in a child identifying as transgender, then the NHS obviously won’t have to test for it.

The article says medics will also evaluate each child’s mental health, their relationship with their family and their sexual development, including whether they are experiencing same-sex attraction.
It didn’t actually say they are going to ‘test’ for same sex attraction, that was OP’s phrasing. They’re not going to ‘test’ family relationships either.

Checking what else may be going on with troubled kids who believe they’re trans will be a huge step forward.

This seems like the wrong track to me.

What's the idea - if they are autistic they aren't "really" trans, but if they aren't autistic, they are?

And similarly with sexual attraction. And like a pp said, what sort of sexual attraction are children supposed to have?

The idea that somehow we can know kid's sexuality from early on has a lot to answer for in terms of justifying really inappropriate assumptions and interactions with children.

Even in the case of teens, sexual attraction is not always fully formed until later on.

@TempestTost, if a young person's autistic they can (assuming the right resources are available) explore their feelings of not fitting in, being 'alien', etc, and be supported with that instead of having their self-diagnosis of transgenderism blindly accepted.

A lot of gay people do say they knew from primary school age. The statement doesn't actually talk about testing for homosexuality. It describes a 360° exploration of the child's life and what stressors may be leading to their sense of 'wrongness'.

My question is, how are they planning to achieve this, given the existing waiting lists for evaluations?

This'll be the holistic treatment Cass recommended.

Autism screening and a full health review for comorbidities sounds sensible. Can't see how anyone could.object - this is the standard of care thr NHS should always aim to provide.

To clarify the title of the OP, which is incorrect re same sex 'testing':

'Under the section titled sexual development, knowledge and sexual orientation, it said “clinicians should seek to understand the child/young person’s emerging sexuality and sexual orientation”.'

Also note:

'If this has been a previous issue, doctors should consider whether the child was exposed to “adversity and trauma”.'

Both important points.

Gender incongruence is often a result of trauma, and also abuse. This approach is exactly what should happen when a child presents with gender confusion - open minded, thorough, caring and supportive.

The one problem is the lack of addressing of cross sex hormones. No child should be given these, ever. How will that loophole be addressed?

Guidance out later this year, I look forward to.seeing it in full.

As the parent of an autistic young person who is trans, can you explain why this is helpful? It’s not going to stop them being trans is it?

I haven’t read the article. Perhaps that would help

This is very welcome, if belated, but I am just wondering how this will this fit with the conversion therapy bill with which Labour are still intending to go ahead?

It'll be using the AQA assessment (a questionnaire, essentially) which can pretty much be done on the spot, or at home and brought in. There is absolutely no way they're going to be able to coordinate a panel diagnosis and fit it into a reasonable timeframe!

I'm quite sure they won't be that crass! It'll be a matter of various other conditions or circumstances intersecting with their perceived 'transness' and I'm assuming each case is assessed on its own merits. We've been saying for years and years how appalling it is that when a minor was referred to, eg, the Tavistock, the clinicians were listening to only one of the things they were presenting with - gender dysphoria or feeling they were trans - and pretty much ignoring any factors like, they also presented with apparent autism, or they were same-sex attracted, or they had eating disorders, or significant depression, or from a disrupted home life ... If the 'transness' was viewed in the context of everything else that was going on, perhaps some clinicians wouldn't have been so fast to treat just that one thing that presented.

Yes, because many if them aren't trans, they are gay but the concrete thinking that comes with autism makes them latch on to the idea of gender as all important.

Genuinely yet to meet a non-autistic/non-traumatised trans young person. And I meet a lot of them in my job. I’d say 80% are ASD/LD and the remaining 20% are a mix of gay/traumatised.

I cannot begin to say how much I welcome this news.

It’s only helpful in the setting of a clinic that understands that feelings of gender distress can be driven and caused by things other than the made up concept of “innate gender identity”.

If you believe in the latter, it just becomes a tick box exercise to say “yes, this trans child has x, y, and z, which isn’t remotely relevant to them being trans” where x, y and z, can be anything but most likely ASD, trauma and confusion about same sex attraction.

Normal, sensible clinicians on the other hand, understand how these overlapping issues can contribute to a gender distressed presentation and help the child to work through these issues to better understand themselves. Of course this is vital to avoid medicalising children based on the ideological belief of “innate gender identity”.

As the parent of a late diagnosed autistic child I would say this would be very helpful for clinicians in unpicking how to support a child in these circumstances.
My DD has been gender non conformity for most of her teens, wanted to present in a highly androgynous way, also thought she was a lesbian.
Now she's older she has come to the conclusion that she's not gay and has come to accept her body. She had quite early puberty but was not very mature emotionally and really struggled with the physical changes to her body.
I don't think these feelings are unique or unusual.

"Being trans" doesn't exist in an objective sense. No child is literally born in a body of the wrong sex.

Children who want to be the opposite sex have this desire for various reasons. For each individual child who is distressed about their sex it's important to determine the reason for this distress. For some the distress is due to autism, for some it's because they have suffered abuse or trauma, for some it's because, as adolescents, they begin to realise that they are same-sex attracted.

Given how very captured all the autism charities are, I fear this won’t help at all - it would just deliver them into the arms of militant autistic transactivists.

I mean it should help, it should mean they can be helped to realise their feeling of separation from their peers is nothing to do with their belief in gender identity but autism groups as they stand are just going to embed that belief.

While on one hand it seems nuts.
On the other hand it makes sense to look at what is actually going on.

Just as we don't encourage Anorexics to continue to harm their bodys or think their body is wrong. We shouldn't be encouraging trans people to think their body is wrong either.

No, they won't be assessed for autism as in the full assessment. They will be screened, which is an initial considering if there are any/enough signs of autism to warrant full assessment. It's different and does not mean they would be places on a lengthy waiting list (unless full assessment is needed, then they would be on the same waiting list as any other child.)
I work in this field (young people's mental health) so am being briefed about developments.

V good to assess for Autism to ensure no unmet needs - not that children with Autism do get their needs met well in general, and the govt defunding of SEND is heading this way fast - and considering if you read the articles and websites by Autistic researchers, they are deep into gender ideology.

I'm not sure how you 'assess' for same sex attraction, especially in a child. You can ask them, that's about the end of it, and as with gender confusion not everyone below the age of 18 is at all sure of this or can be certain of being fixed on their final decision. I suppose the idea is to ensure not treating possible homosexuality with hormones or failing to support someone who has developed gender confusion due to difficulties with same sex attraction, but it's not well worded.