UK NHS to test all ‘trans’ children for autism

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/04/27/nhs-to-test-all-gender-questioning-children-for-autism/

https://archive.md/dbLOM

Every child referred to a gender clinic will be screened under new guidance following Cass Review

The NHS will test all children who believe they are transgender for autism under new plans seen by The Telegraph.

Every child referred to a gender clinic will be “screened for neurodevelopmental conditions” such as autism and ADHD under new guidance, to be introduced in the wake of the Cass review.

The review, by paediatrician Baroness Cass, found that the mental health conditions were disproportionately common among children and young people with gender dysphoria.

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.

As part of a proposal to incorporate Lady Cass’s recommendations, the health service will move away from the “medical model” operated by the controversial Tavistock’s Gender Identity Development Service in favour of a “holistic” approach.

The new guidance will be released for public consultation imminently before being rolled out later this year.

It will be used by established children’s gender clinics in London and Manchester, and was reviewed by Lady Cass at the start of 2025.

Medics will also evaluate each child’s mental health, relationship with their family and sexual development, including whether they are experiencing same-sex attraction.

However, some groups criticised a “serious flaw” in the policy as it leaves an open door to the use of cross-sex hormones. They also condemned its absence of recognition of the wider societal issues to which children are exposed.

Policy probes eight key areas​

The new NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Service will explore eight key areas of a child’s life.

To assess “development”, doctors will take a “detailed history” of the child’s social, cognitive and physical growth, particularly because of the “substantial” changes that take place during puberty.

They will screen children for autism and learning disabilities and look into whether further “cognitive assessments” are necessary.

The specification says: “Given the high prevalence of neurodiversity identified within this population, all those attending the NHS Children and Young People’s Gender Service should receive screening for neurodevelopmental conditions.”

The “multidisciplinary team” of experts, including a consultant specialising in neurodevelopmental disorders, will create a treatment plan for each individual depending on their diagnosis.

If screening “identifies the presence of neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), a referral should be considered to the Paediatric Neurodevelopmental Service or Paediatric ASD Service,” the guidance states.

In such cases, the team of doctors will have to determine if the child’s symptoms are caused by autism or whether they also need separate treatment for gender dysphoria.

They could also be kept under review every six months while getting help for their autism or discharged from the service.

Cases of both conditions have risen sharply in recent years. Recorded rates of gender confusion in under 18s have risen from 0.14 per 10,000 people in 2011 to 4.4 per 10,000 in 2021, driven largely by girls entering adolescence.

At the same time, autism has gone from being diagnosed in about one in 2,500 children, to one in 34 children aged 10-14 as of estimates for 2018.

Prof Michael Craig, clinical lead for the NHS National Autism Unit from 2007 until 2023, previously estimated half of patients seen by the Tavistock’s clinic had autism after observing sessions.

In her review, Baroness Cass linked the rise in teenage girls “struggling with gender identity, suicidal ideation and self-harm” with cases of “undiagnosed autism, which is often missed in adolescent girls”.

She said it was the “common denominator” with one study finding transgender people were three to six times more likely to be autistic than those who are not.

Patients at the new service will also undergo a thorough mental health assessment because of the “higher rates of mental health difficulties” among gender-questioning children.

The NHS guidance described a previous “reluctance to explore or address” mental health conditions because gender dysphoria was not classified as one, but said that “identifying and treating” any mental illness should be an “integrated part” of their care.

It added that they should undergo a “mental state examination” and be questioned about “mood, anxiety, emotional regulation, beliefs around weight, potential somatic symptoms, concentration, sleep and appetite, self-harm, and suicidal thoughts and behaviours”.

‘Family context’​

Another key area is dubbed “family context”, with medics being tasked to paint a picture of each child’s upbringing and familial relationships.

The specification noted that “there is evidence of an increased frequency of family parental physical and/or mental ill health and other family stressors in this group”.

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”.

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

They will also examine the children’s physical health needs and the impact of any long-term conditions, along with their broader well-being, school relationships and educational attainment.

Medical teams will “undertake an in-depth assessment” of how the gender dysphoria “manifested”, how it has been managed by the family, if any “social transition” has taken place and the impact of any distress caused.

They have been told to look out for “safeguarding issues” such as “transphobic bullying”, “online grooming” and a “breakdown in relationships with families”.

The Clinical Advisory Network on Sex and Gender welcomed the “proposed holistic approach and prioritisation of psychological interventions”.

NHS wait times ‘very long’​

Dr Louise Irvine, a GP and the group’s co-chairman, said: “The new service recognises that many also experience mental health, neurodevelopmental and/or personal, family or social complexities in their lives.

“The challenge will be to ensure NHS services can provide prompt access to appropriate service for any identified needs as waiting lists are currently very long.”

But she went on to say a “serious flaw” in the policy was that it “leaves the door open for referral of children and young people under 18 for cross-sex hormones”.

She described the guidance’s reference to a drug policy that is “seriously out of date, was published before the Cass Review and does not take on board the scientific reviews which showed lack of evidence of benefit of hormones in this group” as “irresponsible”.

A spokesman for Bayswater Support Group, which advocates for evidence-based care on behalf of 600 families with trans-identifying children, said: “The more careful and holistic assessment by the NHS is welcome, however, there is still scant recognition of the environmental factors influencing children’s understanding of gender issues.

“Schools continue to teach gender identity as fact and socially transition children without parental consent. Young social media influencers monetise content claiming the health benefits of controversial medical treatments.

“And authority figures, including politicians, cast doubt on the findings of the Cass Review and falsely associate evidence-based findings with far-Right narratives.”

They added: “Within this context, it is very difficult indeed for professionals to make accurate diagnoses or to determine the most effective support for a patient experiencing distress.”

An NHS spokesman said: “We will soon be going to full public consultation on this draft specification which sets out the new holistic assessment framework that was described by Dr Cass in her report.

“NHS England has recently changed the referral pathway so child patients can only access gender services that we commission if they’re referred by a paediatrician or a child and adolescent mental health worker.”

 

[Otterly]

Where are all the extra staff coming from to deal with the autism and ADHD referrals?

They aren’t. They don’t exist

The mental and neurological health systems in England & Wales are already choked with waiting lists that patients will never get to the top of

I wonder if that’s the point. Park them on a list and make them wait
@overlyserious I also used to think that - I still think an awful lot of ‘trans kids’ are victims of sexual abuse. But the SRS thread shows in glorious Technicolor that the pooners are also sex pests. It’s quite bizarre

 

[failed mist]

You all really underestimate how prosocial it was to convince a large cohort of autistic and surplus males that they’d be better off chemically castrated.

A drug cocktail that makes them less aggressive and physically weaker, and they break the law or fight tooth and nail to keep taking it? What a trick.

 

[Nopenopenope]

If we could be even half as based dealing with sandnigger invaders as we are with trannies, there may be hope for the UK yet.

 

[Napoleon Bonerfart]

Offensive middle of the road hot take: It is entirely reasonable to figure out which children aren't actually transgender so that the ones that actually are can be given necessary resources for a successful and thriving life.

 

[AssignedEva]

This is at least a start, but it needs to be a lot stricter. No kid should be given puberty blockers (unless they’re hitting puberty at 6), and no child should ever, ever be given wrong sex hormones or put on waiting lists for pointless cosmetic surgeries.

Puberty blockers will be getting a clinical trial but as of right now their use in the treatment of gender dysphoria in children is completely banned.
Prior to 2011 they'd only be used in over 16s (the age of majority, sort of, in the UK) - this article is from 2008:

From the late 1990s the Dutch have been monitoring a group of around 350 adolescents with "gender divergent identity": a small number of these have had access to puberty-suppressing drugs and are planning to go on for surgery. In Dr Giordano's opinion these drugs are safe: "It is a temporary, reversible intervention. If the child changes their mind, they can be interrupted. They are entirely benign with no known side effects." Parents who want the puberty-blocking treatment argue that their children's lives are at risk if they don't get it. Some are already seeking help abroad. Although some doctors are concerned that the complicating factor with gender identity disorder is that it shows up in different ways in every individual, advocates of the treatment say it is possible to draw up clear guidelines so that the right people are identified early and quickly. Giordano explains: "At puberty the problem becomes more distressing." Once transgender children start going through puberty and acquire secondary sex characteristics, their reassignment surgery will be much more complicated - and less likely to be wholly satisfactory. There is a challenge in identifying those who need treatment, she concedes, "but there are cases that are very clear where the disorder is strong and persistent".

Dr Carmichael of the Gender Identity Development Service argues that the Dutch trial is far from complete. "The Dutch data looks promising. But they have not been doing it for so many years that you have long-term follow-up.The data is not over a long enough period of time and that concerns endocrinologists." There is also concern in the medical comm-unity that not enough evidence exists on the effects of puberty-blocking treatment on bone mass or on the brain. "The question is, if you halt your own sex hormones so that your brain is not experiencing puberty, are you in some way altering the course of nature?"

The Tavistock Clinic announced in 2011 they'd be pioneering a study into puberty blockers in children as young as 12. The trial concluded in 2014, but the results weren't published until 2021. However this didn't stop them declaring the unpublished trial a success (without any formal evaluation); by 2013 Dr Carmichael declared an intent to extend it indefinitely and in 2014 switched to a "stage not age" approach for all patients and began administering puberty blockers to children as young as 9.

Andrea Walker,* a straight-talking, highly experienced social worker from the Leeds team believes the decision to roll out early intervention was based largely on two considerations: the Dutch team were doing it, and Mermaids wanted it to happen. The issue was ‘becoming really political’, she says. ‘And if we don’t do it, we’re just going to become irrelevant.’
It’s difficult to understand why this decision was permitted by GIDS’s commissioners at NHS England. Why did they not insist on seeing some data,some evidence, that supported making puberty blockers more widely available, and to children so young that there were no data at all on how they might fare? Health sources tell me that ‘specialist commissioning’, the area of the NHS that has oversight of GIDS, encompasses more than 200 areas of treatment. GIDS slipped under the radar. That’s entirely believable in an overstretched NHS, but still an astonishing admission where an experimental treatment on children is concerned.
*not her real name

When findings for 30 of the 44 study participants were presented to the Tavistock board in June 2015, they appeared to show even less favourable outcomes. These young people had been on the blocker for one year. Researchers reported a statistically significant increase in those answering the statement ‘I deliberately try to hurt or kill myself ’ as well as a significant increase in behavioural and emotional problems for natal girls. Parents reported a significant decrease in the physical well-being of their child. Why had these findings not provided pause for thought? GIDS told the BBC in 2019 that all patients were seen regularly by mental health professionals, who had concluded there was no evidence of harms that could be directly attributed to the treatment. While 44 children were part of the official study, by mid 2016 162 children had been referred to the early intervention clinic. The youngest was eight years old, with their ninth birthday imminent. The youngest person to have started on puberty blockers was ten years old. Yet GIDS appeared to have data that showed there was no impact on psychological well-being, when using more objective measures rather than self-reported satisfaction.
Anna Hutchinson was alarmed as the presentation continued in a matter- of-fact manner. Despite the idea that blockers were being administered to provide children and families with more time to think, it was becoming clear that they were all thinking in exactly the same way. And then, in an astonishing aside, the researchers revealed that everyone in the early intervention group had at this point progressed from the blockers on to cross-sex hormones. A treatment with irreversible consequences. Every single one. It was Hutchinson’s ‘holy fuck’ moment. And a wake-up call for so many of her colleagues too. ‘It totally exploded the idea that when we were offering the puberty blockers, we were actually offering time to think,’ Hutchinson says, ‘because what are the chances of 100 per cent of people, offered time to think, thinking the same thing? I mean, it looked to me like it was the opposite. And that once you’re on the pathway, you stayed on the pathway, perhaps you thought less.’ What’s more, figures of close to 100 per cent are almost unknown in psychological research. Human beings, particularly adolescent ones, are not usually so consistent and predictable. The Early Intervention Study research team had data a year earlier that no participants had withdrawn from puberty suppression ‘in the first 2 years’. It doesn’t appear that it was shared with the majority of GIDS staff. (Another paper published by the GIDS team in 2015 purported to show that both psychological support and puberty suppression were associated with improved functioning in young people with gender dysphoria.

That's from Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock's Gender Service for Children by the investigate journalist Hannah Barnes. The consistent failures of NHS England in safeguarding vulnerable children, and the expose of the Tavistock as basically being a politicised Wild West, has a lot to do with why the UK is making such bold strides in these areas.

 

[Anakin Soywalker]

Seems like no one understand what the transgender stuff really is. The fact is that its a product of social interactions wherein the individual is seen as a member of the opposite sex. This is common on the Internet where social interactions are limited or distorted due to avatars, usernames, and filters making someone seem like a member of the opposite sex. When a person is perceived as a member of the opposite sex and treated as such, then they'll eventually internalize it. When the majority of a person's social interactions are online, its not surprising that personal identity can be skewed.

Autism and trannyism are linked but its a correlation rather than a causation. Autistic people get most of their social interactions online and thus they often define themselves as the gender they're treated as. So when a boy plays an online game using a girl as his avatar, he'll be treated as a girl and eventually think he's one. This is common sense.

As for historical trannies, prostitution of minors often resulted in boys being treated as girls and thus, unsurprisingly, they started to see themselves as girls.

This is the worst take in the thread. Congratulations, retard.

 

[Sneedposting]

I wonder what the tranny version of a black nig's "sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeit" is right about now.

I believe it's "ACK!"

 

[VeteranOfTheRetardWars]

You say that you're trans an' all, but have you ever thought that maybe you're just autistic?

 

[Kino Pacino]

autism has gone from being diagnosed in about one in 2,500 children, to one in 34 children aged 10-14 as of estimates for 2018.

I thought autism was innate but seemingly our society breeds them.

What happens as the number of autists continues to rise? Will the direction of democratic countries be ultimately decided by some of the most easily influenced/gullible type of people; people who we originally unanimously agreed are mentally disordered? Will the likes of Chris Chan who believe in the "Dimensional Merge" control these countries (what exactly are the consequences of this)?

Obviously I'm being hyperbolic about the Chris Chan archetype dictating the world, but considering how easily autists are brainwashed, the former questions are still concerning.

 

[UselessRubberKeyboard]

They aren’t. They don’t exist

I wonder if that’s the point. Park them on a list and make them wait
@overlyserious I also used to think that - I still think an awful lot of ‘trans kids’ are victims of sexual abuse. But the SRS thread shows in glorious Technicolor that the pooners are also sex pests. It’s quite bizarre

It’s a good idea in theory, and it certainly deals with the idiocy of ‘trans kids’. Problem is, it clogs the system for those that genuinely need help.

It’s already at breaking point. People who are floridly mentally ill - actual, real mental illnesses - are also waiting months or years to see doctors, because the lists are full of TikTok shysters who want their delusions of Tourette’s affirmed, or their mild scratches diagnosed as suicidal ideation. It’s a nightmare for psych units and the doctors are getting increasingly angry and worried about it all. Patients are being hospitalised when it could’ve been avoided with earlier care, and patients are also dying. I’ve seen psychs in tears of rage over this stuff, and how they keep their cool with some of the online mental illness crew I’ll never know.

I wish I had an answer for it. If we’re all mental, none of us are, and while I am all for treating mental illnesses with long-term support if needed, people likewise need to be told to deal with their self-made idiocy instead of burdening the NHS somehow. I just hope there’s secretly a separate list for the genderwank psych cases, so they can be kept in an endless loop of waiting and needing more investigation (prevents the NHS wasting resources on causing actual harm via hormones and surgeries). It’s all horribly unethical, though.

Mental illness being fashionable is so frustrating. You can’t tell someone to just sod off and go dig a vegetable patch somewhere, but likewise that’s exactly the kind of thing people trapped in their own head space need. Maybe there needs to be more community-based outreach, I dunno. No money though. I’m going off-topic, so will shut up now.

 

[spiritofamermaid]

MTFs are usually on the porn side, and FTMs are usually on the autism side. But having both a porn addiction and autism is also pretty common among troons. Autists can hyperfixate and get addicted to things easily, and with social interaction being difficult, they gravitate more towards online communities, which are porn-infested.

Countries need to start cracking down on porn next. There should be mandatory ID checks for porn and any site that allows porn. Discord should also be either 18+ or completely ban porn.

FTMs are also on the ROGD and self-harm side. I remember reading the UK reporting a significant drop in admissions for anorexia nervosa and a rise in FTM.

I know the plural of anecdote isn't data but I've also noticed that if it isn't autism, all the FTMs I know IRL have had bad-to-horrific sexual trauma in their past. Which is why I believe most of FTM are women trying to become men as a maladaptive coping mechanism for it. Enbies are just attention seekers.

Curious if part of their holistic study is asking prospective MTFs if they jerked off with female family members' underwear.

 

[Elbe]

Where are all the extra staff coming from to deal with the autism and ADHD referrals?

 

[Marvin]

But the SRS thread shows in glorious Technicolor that the pooners are also sex pests. It’s quite bizarre

I know pooner sex pests exist. But I'm certain the numbers aren't comparable.

I would imagine it's the testosterone. There's evidence that chemical castration reduces recidivism for sex offenders, but does not eliminate it.

Offensive middle of the road hot take: It is entirely reasonable to figure out which children aren't actually transgender so that the ones that actually are can be given necessary resources for a successful and thriving life.

Maybe but I would imagine the treatment for autism influenced gender dysphoria will probably be very similar to any other autism influenced fixation.

 

[JohnnyG]

So then they have it in their minds that the only way to feel better is to transition, they transition and they feel better

I agree there's an incredibly strong self-fulfilling prophecy when it comes to grooming children (literally every institution cheerleading it), but there's also the drug aspect. Give an anxious/moody/stressed preteen girl (ie all of them) a massive dose of testosterone, and she'll feel good (high) for a bit. By that measure, cocaine addiction is also "euphoric".

I would suggest tranies to actually agree on some sort of lore around what "transgender" is because currently it doesn't really have a definition except self-referencing one. Depending on who they're arguing with, transgender is a mental disorder, an arbitrary artificially created social construct or metaphysical magical concept of souls being displaced in wrong bodies by god

Schrodinger's Muh'pression:
- black Womyn of Calories are sassy Beyonce SheEOs who run dis wif dey Black Girl Magic, but also perpetual victims who are always the "most impacted" by any occurrence...
- morbid obesity is a Serious Medical Condition deserving infinity accommodations, subsidies, and benefits, but also something to be normalized and proud of...
- troonery is an innate, "born this way" condition beyond criticism, entitled to tax dollars & insurance coverage, but also an ever-changing expression of unique personality that requires twerking in lingerie on national TV

It's another flavour of Spiteful Mutants: the victim aspect gives cover for the State/Corporate HR regime to come down on any critique, while the empowerment aspect tells the worst behaved they can do whatever they want.

 

[mars]

I would think that "uwu soft anime boys" are a form of de-sexualisation. At least for a woman wanting to be one. Not male, hardly masculine, a kind of infantalised state. But that said, I stay out of that thread because it horrifies me. So if I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

Yaoi and gay anime uwu boys definitely play a role in it and I think you're sort of right but not completely. These girls are autistic and are intimidated by normal, masculine men. Soft anime boys are much less scary than actual boys. It's also intimidating when men are attracted to them, so let's have the men be attracted to each other. After indulging in these fantasies for a while it seems much less scary to an autistic teen girl to turn into the uwu boy rather than try to be a normal woman. These women are often incredibly focused on the emotional relationships that their yaoi boys have rather than any hard sexuality and often assign them very female traits and attitudes so I think you're right that it's a form of de-sexualization but it's still attraction driven. This is why you see so many FTMs in relationships with butch lesbians. They're just masculine enough while still having feminine traits plus sex is rare in lesbian relationships. Perfect for the scared autistic girl who never grew up.

 

[Feathers McGraw]

That's from Time to Think: The Inside Story of the Collapse of the Tavistock's Gender Service for Children by the investigate journalist Hannah Barnes

This book is excellent, and well worth reading for anyone who is interested in how these sorts of disasters can happen. It's morbidly fascinating to see how the layers of NHS bureaucracy, clandestine groups of extremist activists, and the general British attitude of "not wanting to cause a fuss" combine to produce a health service that castrates gay & autistic children in the name of progressiveness. It's like a modern day Banality of Evil.

 

[Beautiful Border]

A lot of people in this thread seem to think this is about troons, when it's actually mostly about pooners. Autism is historically massively underdiagnosed in women. KF, I think, gives people a bit of a distorted view of the problem - the data shows that the massive increase in children and teenagers identifying as trans is being mostly driven by girls.

If you want a more accurate view of what's going on, you need to look at parenting forums. There's a good reason why /r/parenting is basically one of the only subreddits that has sensible takes around any of this. The overwhelming consensus there when people ask "My daughter just announced she's trans, what do I do?" is "Treat it as a phase, and wait for it to blow over, don't rush to sign her up for treatment", and it quite often comes with the added disclosure of "That's what I did with my daughter and she identified as a girl again after a year". These people are correctly identifying what it is: A social phenomenon among teens that's having fuel poured on it because of loud, childless adults.

The typical scenario goes like this: 11-14 year old girl feels awkward and like she doesn't fit in at school. She's going through puberty and feels confused by the changes happening to her. She goes on social media (which her parents aren't regulating or monitoring in any way), which then offers a solution that makes sense to her: She feels weird because she's actually a boy! And that plants the idea in her head that she's trans. She would never have come to this conclusion if she were growing up twenty or thirty years ago, but she doesn't have the life experience to know that.

Adult trans activists (who again, usually don't have kids) will yell until they're blue in the face that what these parents intuitively figured out was wrong, despite the evidence to the contrary. They will insist that it's actually totally normal for a significant percentage of teenage girls to suddenly stop wanting to be girls and that anything less than rushing her to the hospital for a masectomy and Lupron injections is child abuse. They are silly people not worth listening to.

 

[Otterly]

People who are floridly mentally ill - actual, real mental illnesses - are also waiting months or years to see doctors,

Oh I know. Last year I experienced someone interrupted in active suicide attempt, not even sectioned, no follow up care at all. MHT supposed to follow up, never turned up. Just police cell to a short stabilisation of an hour or two to make sure they weren’t actually going to die as a result of the attempt, then an evaluation which was ‘yeah actively suicidal, nothing we can do we are full.’ Repeated calls to MHT elicited a ‘yeah we will go tomorrow’ multiple times and then they simply stopped responding.
It’s pretty shocking how little help there is for even the people about to top themselves, and I fully expect said person to do it again more successfully at some point. They need inpatient care and they won’t get it.
When I see people who are totally functional go on about muh ADHD on social media I want to throttle them.
The system is beyond breaking point, it’s been broken for a very long time and people are dying because of it

 

[Jomi]

It's social media fo' sure causing mentally underdeveloped kids to think they are trans,.

Another point, why is the UK suddenly doing the right thing? They don't have an election for a long time.

Ruling Labour party, who are only in office as a protest to the dire Conservative party, are currently getting bashed in the polls by Reform, the relatively new third arm of the uniparty. Local elections are this week (which I suppose could be considered the equivalent of mid-terms idk).

 

[Overly Serious]

(which I suppose could be considered the equivalent of mid-terms idk).

Yes, in the sense of a bellweather indicating voting intentions by the public. Though not a perfect one. Council elections tend to get a bit of a different demographic turning out - less high profile and bigged up than the General Election. Also, it's only specific regions so very easily influenced by that if you're trying to gauge national sentiment. There are only 23 council elections, iirc. There would be more but they're postponed.

This post for the benefit of Americans and other non-Brits.