Children referred to the UK’s largest gender clinic were vastly more likely than average to present with autistic traits

Autism   Comorbidity   Neurodiversity  

One study1 noted that:

48% of children and young people who were seen in GIDS and whose parents completed the social responsiveness scale (SRS), a quantitative measure of autistic behaviours in children and young people, scored in the mild to severe range.

A BMJ paper2 reported:

Around 35% of referred young people [i.e. referred to the GIDS] present with moderate to severe autistic traits.

  1. Churcher Clarke, A. & Spiliadis, A. (2019). ‘Taking the lid off the box’: The value of extended clinical assessment for adolescents presenting with gender identity difficulties. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry 24 (2): 338-352. [Link] ↩︎
  2. Butler, G., De Graaf, N., Wren, B. & Carmichael, P. (2018) Assessment and support of children and adolescents with gender dysphoria. Archives of Disease in Childhood103:631-636. [Link] ↩︎
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