Psychologist Says Gender-Dysphoric Kids Need Case-by-Case Intervention
by Jim Brown
September 18, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Reports say a growing number of public and private elementary schools are allowing young boys to enroll as girls and vice versa. One five-year-old boy who is said to be rejecting his biological gender was enrolled by his family in Broward County Schools and is being called the youngest transgender child in the U.S.
A recent San Francisco Chronicle article featured two Oakland, California, elementary schools that are developing new ways to accommodate students who are said to be exhibiting "gender dysphoria," which is described as confusion or discomfort about one's birth gender.
However, noted mental health counselor Dr. Warren Throckmorton of Grove City College in Pennsylvania believes children who feel they are the wrong gender require individualized, case-by-case intervention. In some cases, he suggests, reported incidences of gender dysphoria indicate as much about the mental health community as they do about the actual problem.
"A lot of this reporting," Throckmorton asserts, "reflects a conflict in the professions about whether or not gender-variant kids are expressing a disorder or whether they are expressing who they are in some ultimate sense -- that they could know that as pre-schoolers or elementary school kids."
Elementary schools face a difficult task when confronted by parents who want to enroll their young boy as a girl, or vice versa, Throckmorton notes. However, he emphasizes that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for children who are exhibiting gender-variant or gender dysphoric behavior.
Although it can be very tempting to take sides on this controversial issue, the Grove City College psychologist says he feels "that every case has to be evaluated neutrally, without political ramifications." And the evaluating should be done by professionals with alternative views, he suggests, "so that parents have both sides when they're trying to make a decision about what to do with their kids."
Throckmorton says he has counseled children with gender-variant behavior who later embraced their God-given biological gender. Unfortunately, he contends, homosexual and transgender groups often use cases of gender confusion in children to promote their own political agenda.
Jim Brown, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
