Transgender at five

[Shana A]

Transgender at five

By Petula Dvorak, Published: May 19

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/transgender-at-five/2012/05/19/gIQABfFkbU_story.html

Kathryn wanted pants. And short hair. Then trucks and swords.

Her parents, Jean and Stephen, were fine with their toddler's embrace of all things boy. They've both been school teachers and coaches in Maryland and are pretty immune to the quirky stuff that kids do.

But it kept getting more intense, all this boyishness from their younger daughter. She began to argue vehemently — as only a tantrum-prone toddler can — that she was not a girl.

"I am a boy," the child insisted, at just 2 years old.

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Drug treatments for transgender kids pose difficult choices for parents, doctors

By Petula Dvorak, Published: May 19

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/drug-treatments-for-transgender-kids-pose-difficult-choices-for-parents-doctors/2012/05/19/gIQAxgakbU_story.html

While no one knows how many American children have gender identity disorder, increasing numbers are being treated for a condition long ignored or denied by parents and pediatricians.

"There's no question that everybody is seeing more of this now," said Norman Spack, the director of one of the nation's first gender identity medical clinics at Children's Hospital Boston.

And as awareness grows, so does the controversy surrounding the next possible steps in gender transition — first treatments to suspend puberty, then a rare and radical course of hormone injections to slowly grow a teen's body into its opposite gender. The hormone injections, which begin at about 16, make the child sterile.

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Editor's note: Protecting his identity

Sunday, May 20, 9:08 AM

http://www.washingtonpost.com/editors-note-protecting-his-identity/2012/05/20/gIQATxeycU_story.html

The Washington Post took a number of steps to protect the identity of Tyler and his family, including not publishing details about where they live and go to church and school in the Washington area. We used only the middle names of Tyler's parents and sister. His name in the story is the one his parents would have given him if he'd been born a boy. We are publishing photos of Tyler with his parents' permission.

[suzifrommd]

Petula Dvorak is one of my favorite columnists. I almost always agree with her.

Interesting observation buried deep in this article by a counselor who works with transgendered children:

"In the decade that Menvielle has been counseling such children, he estimates that about 80 percent end up switching back to what their biology tells them. The other 20 percent remain transgender into adulthood."

Wonder if this finding is backed up by other results.

Will it make parents more likely to dismiss early signs of a transgendered child? Or would squeamish parents be more likely to seek help since they could hold out hope it would pass?

[Shana A]

Encounter in second-grade class leads to story of transgender 5-year-old

By Petula Dvorak, Published: May 21

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/encounter-in-second-grade-class-leads-to-story-of-transgender-5-year-old/2012/05/21/gIQAHLBGfU_story.html

I was volunteering in my son's second-grade class when my world first intersected with transgender children.

The kids were pitching story ideas for a class newspaper.

"How about a story about why people are transgendered?" one girl suggested.

[...]

I had no idea that the girl's younger sister was about to officially become her little brother.

The next day, my son came home from school and said: "Mom, you know how you really didn't know what transgender is? It's just when you have a boy mind in a girl body. Duh."

[Shana A]

Transgender at five: Tyler's story leads to outpouring of other stories

By Petula Dvorak, Published: May 21

http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/transgender-at-five-tylers-story-leads-to-outpouring-of-other-stories/2012/05/21/gIQAQ9VRgU_story.html

I heard from transgendered senior citizens who lamented their decades living a lie.

I got e-mails from confused parents who had their aha moment when they read Tyler's story.

And sure, I heard from the haters. The Internet troll employment benefits package apparently doesn't offer vacation days, so they're always there.

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Posted at 12:17 PM ET, 05/22/2012
Transgender children: Learning to listen to their reality
By Janice D'Arcy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/on-parenting/post/transgender-children-learning-to-listen-to-their-reality/2012/05/22/gIQAO5mGiU_blog.html

What is gender?

This is a question I didn't think much of until about six years ago, when I awaited a sonogram technician's explanation of what she was tracking on a blurry screen. Girl or boy? It was suddenly a very big question.

Ever since, as I have tried to guide my daughters through the rocky path of gender stereotypes, it has been on my mind, especially in recent days.

The Post's Petula Dvorak has this week written a series of moving columns about a 5-year-old-child, Tyler, who was not comfortable as a girl. After much angst and much research, Tyler's parents made two difficult decisions.

The first, to allow their child to identify as a boy.

[aleon515]

Petula Dvorak is one of my favorite columnists. I almost always agree with her.

Interesting observation buried deep in this article by a counselor who works with transgendered children:

"In the decade that Menvielle has been counseling such children, he estimates that about 80 percent end up switching back to what their biology tells them. The other 20 percent remain transgender into adulthood."

Wonder if this finding is backed up by other results.

Will it make parents more likely to dismiss early signs of a transgendered child? Or would squeamish parents be more likely to seek help since they could hold out hope it would pass?

I've seen that statistic before, btw. I'm not sure what to think about this. When I was 7 or so (not sure if it went on long enough or was intense enough to be GID) I believed I was a boy (at least how I recall it). I don't remember if I thought this earlier. Anyway, I agreed to start school as a girl.
At this point, I consider myself to be androgyne (GQ, gender fluid, etc.). So maybe some of this supposed 80% does not become binary one way or another.

Another thing, Dr. Norton Spack treats trans children. I don't recall that he has ever set forth this statistic. I have heard of kids on the puberty blockers who stop and go on to the take on the assigned body gender. But he doesn't say if they actually are binary and I don't know that he normally deals with this.

--Jay Jay