Seeking support for my Autistic Child

[WarriorN]

James Esses has shared a blog post by a mother who’s been really struggling to get the unbiased support for her daughter.

It highlights the loopholes and cracks in the system, especially the NHS. And the Cass report and KCSIE of course is now recommending that professional help must be used, particularly nhs.

she writes:

Unlike in the education sector, the NHS does not have safeguarding guidelines in place that recognise the risks facing a gender questioning child when they enter primary care like a GP or secondary care like CAMHS. Instead, there is a risk of conflation with a number of other factors such as autism, sexual orientation or trauma (where children might be identifying “out” of their own body that they perceive to be weak) following bullying or sexual assault.

and

My experience has given me pause for thought on how children’s safeguarding is dropping through many cracks. It was the NHS which commissioned the Cass Report upon which the schools’ guidance leans, to manage the “extreme caution” that it recommends regarding social transition, yet the NHS guidance for children entering primary and secondary care services still doesn’t seem to recognise this risk. Further, the schools’ guidance cites the importance of understanding the difference between being LGB and gender questioning, yet the government (and both public and private healthcare and therapy practitioners) talks about “conversion therapy” without taking this significant difference into account – this impacts adults as well as children. The puzzle pieces are all there but still in their respective boxes.

https://substack.com/@jamesesses/p-164000162

It’s very clear there’s still no joined up
thinking. And clearly, as too many thread show here, so many schools are not following KCSIE anyway wrt gender questioning children.

I fear it will be a long time yet before we have the appropriate safeguards across all areas of a child’s life

Just bumping this as it’s such a good account of the issues facing parents right now, and for the foreseeable future

Picked up by Nick Wallis now too:

https://x.com/nickwallis/status/1927651889736253932?t=ILvj7uPJDlWnB87KS86wnA&s=19

It's incredibly frustrating that we're a year on from both the final Cass Report and the release of the current statutory schools' safeguarding guidance (KCSIE).... both of which clearly say that autism needs to be considered as a root cause of gender questioning children's distress. Yet here we are continuously signposting these very same children towards gender identity belief. They are being so badly failed.

I fear it will be a long time yet before we have the appropriate safeguards across all areas of a child’s life.

Agreed 😔

They are 'only' autistic kids though.

Therein lies your problem.

No one really wants to know.

That’s so chilling red. it’s just horrifying that some of the most vulnerable children, and girls in particular are made so much more vulnerable due to the lack of oversight by the system

Thanks for this Warrior. Labour have turned out to be as bad as I feared about all this. With the notable exception of Streeting, the rest of them are supremely unbothered about the gaslighting of children in all this and so many schools seem to be continuing promoting trans extremism at children.

The dangerous path from school to gender clinic is so far unbroken.

I have an autistic son in alternative education. Schools may be more aware but alternative provisions seem a different kettle of fish to me. Trans flags are everywhere and it’s taught as gospel in many of the provisions I’ve tried to secure for him. If you want gender ideology taught as a belief not as fact you have no options locally to me that I’m aware of. not surprised really as the education provision itself is more babysitters than education the LA don’t care about these kids education and see them as massive financial drains in the public purse so why would they care about gender?

Also the social contagion is significant. As is trying to transition out of your experience.

i viewed one provision that didn’t allow outside shoes and you couldn’t bring your own slippers you had to wear trans flag crocs to ensure all pupils felt safe (of the handful I saw all looked gender non conforming if not trans). That word “safe” over footwear ensured I didn’t send my child.

if I wasn’t so fiercely feminist and gender critical I’m sure my gender non conforming autistic dd would have been directed towards gender services via school and dr had she not been so blunt with her own feminist comments. She’s watched the sex inequality of my life and with a few trans friends gender has been discussed extensively at home. I must say I’m proud of her! She’s respectful and considerate of other’s feelings while steadfast in her belief that she doesn’t have to conform and can call out harmful sex stereotypes when applied to her.

Fucking hell at the compulsory “safe” crocs!!! But yay for your daughter’s confidence in articulating reality.

I have a severely autistic child and this terrifies me. Trans crocs! WTAF?!!!

My DS is only 6, is not toilet trained can't speak, screeches only. He's in an ASN base. I'm on high alert about what they are "teaching". So far I've not seen anything but I am waiting for it. I'm in Scotland so double fucked with this shite.

The people who push this are evil. The schools, the charities, the volunteers. It's like a mind virus that has meant everyone who pushes it has forgotten basic child safeguarding. Genuinely I have run out of patience with being gentle in questioning this bullshit. Anything like that gets given to my son I'm roaring.

My word Burntt that is absolutely awful. Trans crocs, I wish I thought you were making it up.
I taught in a similar secondary setting (complete with indoor/outdoor shoes) for about 5 years about 20 years ago. Almost every student was on the spectrum. We had one student who wore overtly gender non-conforming clothes in that time - and that student was very clear that it was done to shock others. Teachers had no qualms about telling the student to wear appropriate clothing. How times have changed.

I think the attitude is worse towards girls too if I'm honest. Autism in girls being poorly understood is part of the problem.

There's no autistic group who isn't also actually a trans group these days either. I wish they could be taken apart on this under their charitable aims.

It's appalling.

'Trans Crocs?' Do you mean brightly coloured light weight shoes which would not harm others if thrown? And with no laces which could cause tripping or harm if removed? I think people are getting a bit hysterical about this. Special schools are by nature very inclusive spaces and some may have particular sensitivities according to the make up of its community and the children on roll.

I mean crocs shoes. As you say the lightweight non laced shoes. It does make sense for safety. However they all had the trans flag over the whole shoe and they were compulsory.

I’ve worked in send for a long time and I’m extremely concerned about alternative provisions.

they could offer and excellent support but they do seem to be a Wild West. I know two quite well as I have worked with the people who set them up. I wouldn’t send my child to one of them; colleages agree.

tbe other is an otherwise fantastic forest school but yes, very captured with gender ideology. And they’re working with local professionals who are now freelance who are also captured. the Facebook page reveals a lot.

KCSiE is simply not going to be effective enough for these settings, especially if the nhs, where KCSiE is already re directing gender questioning children to, is even more of a black ideological hole with no firm safeguarding guidelines.

We have big pharma and big send industries competing for kids and the cash that follows them here.

That is absolutely bonkers

I can't walk in bog-standard Crocs due to my disability. I won't be the only person who needs footwear of a specific design. You would think that an alternative provision would know this.

Once again, being a trans ally is more important than everything else.

Many children will trip in them and find crocs problematic. I teach children with disabilities, mostly autism. Crocs are ideal for a few, definitely not for others

Agreed.

There are so many barriers to autistic children (particularly girls) getting access to joined up holistic support on this. To list a few:

• mainstream schools are promoting "inclusion" and the importance of supporting people's "identity", coercing children to believe it's important to Be Kind with preferred pronouns etc, including schools with resourced provisions (like my daughter's school) that have a concentration of autistic children. Some are also still teaching about the importance of validating gender identity in PHSE lessons
• alternative provisions with a concentration of autistic children are doing the same types of coercion (mandatory trans crocs.... FFS!! 🤬)
• autism groups are positioning it as ableist if anyone suggests children and young adults are at risk of the conflation of autism issues (sensory/change/cognitive processing) that impact children during puberty with a belief in gender identity
• Educational Psychologists are failing to pull this together in EHCPs - this is where autistic children's needs and provisions should be captured, to help mitigate the impact of social media etc influencing them to believe that they are "in the wrong body" if they are struggling with their changing bodies and emotions during puberty. From the EP it should pass to the Occupational Therapy team (sensory issues e.g. with breast development, periods in girls and beard/genital growth in boys) and Speech and Language Therapy team (cognitive processing about "being" male or female, stereotypes etc)
• parents are framed as a risk to their child by schools and Children's Services if they raise concerns about the conflation of autism and gender identity
• counselling services (and GPs and CAMHS) are failing to recognise their role in perpetuating this conflation - the subject in the article - when working with autistic children.

On this last point, Transgender Trend nailed it in their tweet:

https://x.com/Transgendertrd/status/1928005376248549403?t=xZOWWXArdLrCbW_nHfw9Rw&s=19

Screenshot below for anyone not on X.

Autistic children and young adults really don't stand a chance with this level and scale of holistic safeguarding failure. And sadly I think you're right Red: too many people just don't care about autistic children (presumably it's just too complex/"toxic" and easier to turn the other way) for the effort to be put in to joining it up.

Couldn't add my screenshot for some reason... Trying again.

I agree completely that young autistic people have been failed so badly, including by the NHS. Autism is such a common comorbidity with anorexia and gender questioning it could be an unofficial Autism flag. I think so many practitioners know this now but there still isn't a culture where people can be questioning without the risk of complaints and accusations of 'conversion therapy'.

I'll be honest, the worst offenders are often therapists with skin in the game as it were. They are often ND and 'queer' themselves and have made it their USP. Many are good therapists in many ways but they have made ND and queerness their whole identities and their Supervisors feel unable to challenge how this is influencing their practice. Until this culture shifts I think it is very hard for young people to get the help they deserve.

Fantastic though sobering post Bonfire

so many different health care professionals may see a child who is autistic and gender questioning, they really need to be getting this right, and cohesively.

the first time I read about binders my first thought was the similarity to the bear hugs OTs prescribe some children to support self regulation in autistic children who demonstrate finding deep pressure helpful. They’re prescribed though, very strict time limits of around 20 mins at a time.

TT are bang on, one of the reasons I don’t think this will be over soon at all.

pink news were excitedly reporting this week on a trans identified male/ aspiring pop star touring schools to perform, for example.

Sharing a link to a thread I started this morning, as it's directly relevant to this subject. Unfortunately, if children can't access good neutral support to understand and address the root cause of their distress, they become adults who are making uninformed decisions that can have irreversible, harmful consequences. This ⬇️ is a good news story on how that seemingly inevitable pathway can be directly and successfully challenged:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/womens_rights/5355146-gender-clinic-backs-off-after-family-successfully-challenges-direct-contact-with-adult-daughter