Early Childhood Development – Your Options – How Do I Know If My Child Is Transgender? By Stephanie Brill and Caitlin Ryan, PhD, ACSW - National Association of Social Workers

What Is Transgender?

Everyone has a gender identity. Gender identity is our internal sense of being male or female. For most people, our basic awareness that we are male or female matches our physical body. When we’re born, people decide if we’re male or female based on our genitals. But for children and adults who are transgender, their basic sense of being male or female – their gender identity – does not match their body. So a transgender person may have a male body, but feel inside that they are female. Or a transgender person may have a female body, but feel inside that they are truly male.

Can a Child Be Transgender?

What Makes a Child Transgender?

Why Can’t My Child Be “Normal”?

How Should I Respond?

How Can I know If It’s a Phase?

Where Do I Get Help, Support, and More Information?

Resources for Families & Providers

Read more: National Association of Social Workers

http://www.helpstartshere.org/kids-and-families/early-childhood-development/early-childhood-development-your-options-how-do-i-know-if-my-child-is-transgender.html

Social worker, Caitlin Ryan’s interview for the ABC Television News Program 20/20 story on transgender children broadcast in April 2007

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=3091799

Caitlin Ryan - Family Acceptance Project:  Research on LGBT adolescents and young adults and their families. Developing family education materials, and assessment and intervention materials for providers. Read more:

http://familyproject.sfsu.edu/

Stephanie Brill is a gender specialist and the Director of Gender Spectrum Education and Training, a national education and training organization on gender identity and transgender children and adolescents.

Read more: National Association of Social Workers

http://www.helpstartshere.org/kids-and-families/early-childhood-development/early-childhood-development-your-options-how-do-i-know-if-my-child-is-transgender.html

About Social Workers

Every social worker is uniquely qualified to help people right in their own environment, by looking at all the different aspects of their life and culture. We work to ensure your personal well-being, prevent crises and to counsel individuals, families, and communities. We make sure people get the help they need, from the best resources available. And for more than 100 years, we’ve been doing just that.

Social workers care for people in every stage of life, from children to the elderly. We help them overcome life’s most difficult challenges, and the troubles of everyday living, including: Read more: National Association of Social Workers

http://www.helpstartshere.org/about-social-workers