Over an unblemished teaching career spanning two decades, Carol has devoted much of her time to the emotional and personal well-being of the pupils in her care.

So when a 16-year-old student she had known for many years quietly confided that she felt trapped in the wrong body and was considering changing gender, her instinct was to take the teenager lovingly under her wing.

Even though Carol knew the child had been diagnosed as autistic two years earlier, she vowed to provide the support the youngster needed to guide her through what would obviously be a difficult journey.

It was January 2014 and the debate over transgender rights, so supercharged today, had barely begun.

In 2014 a student confided in teacher Carol that she felt trapped in the wrong body and was considering changing gender. The student had been diagnosed with autism two years earlier. *(Stock picture)

The baffling array of terminology used to define various permutations of so-called ‘gender identity’ was yet to emerge and Carol admits she didn’t know where to turn for help.

But then, because she was in charge of pupils’ pastoral care, Carol was contacted by an organisation that aimed to help transgender youngsters. The body, which Carol has asked us not to name because she fears doing so might identify her and the pupil, had recently opened a centre nearby.

The student, who was born female, had insisted that she now wanted to identify as non-binary – a person with no specific gender – so Carol happily referred her to the group. But the gently spoken mother has come to bitterly regret that decision.

‘Once she was involved with that group there was no turning back,’ she says. ‘It was decided that she was transgender and that was that, it was never challenged and I blame myself for that.’

Carol now firmly believes that the student never suffered from gender dysphoria – the medical term for someone who feels they were born in the wrong body – but was simply autistic and should have been offered more help to cope with their emotional and social difficulties.

What makes this even more painful for Carol and is one of the reasons she has chosen to speak out today is that she has learned the girl is planning a double mastectomy as part of her gender realignment.

She says: ‘That child was diagnosed as autistic at the age of 14 and certainly was not transgender – she had complicated mental health problems. It is a tragedy that now she is going to mutilate her body.’

Transgender YouTube star Ash Hardell was born female but now identifies as non-binary – neither male nor female

She recalls how the school did all it could to accommodate the student. After consulting with the child’s parents, it agreed to change the student’s name on the register to one that was gender neutral.

Teachers also started to refer to them using both male and female pronouns depending what gender the student identified as on any given day.

YouTube trans star influencing children Transgender YouTube star Ash Hardell is idolised by hundreds of thousands of teenagers around the world, with more than 500,000 subscribers to his video channel. Ash, who was born female but now identifies as non-binary – neither male nor female – introduces one video about breast removal, entitled I Got Top Surgery!!, with the words: ‘Watch my journey to flat and happy!’ In it, Ash tells fans: ‘After surgery there was not only this wave of euphoria, but also the biggest wave of relief… I’m telling you, it was the right decision and I’m so happy.’ Commenting on the video, one young follower said: ‘When I’m older I will get top surgery no matter what my parents say!!’ British-born Alex Bertie, 23, also has a hit channel where he has been sharing details of his transition from female to male since the age of 15 with his 300,000 followers. He told one young person who contacted him saying that they felt ‘confused’ and ‘not trans enough’ that they were repressing their true feelings. ‘Just because you are pushing it down and covering it up doesn’t mean it’s not still there,’ Alex said. Advertisement

‘The pronouns could change from hour to hour depending how the student was feeling,’ Carol said.

The teen asked if she could hold an assembly to tell other pupils at the school about being transgender, but Carol blocked this.

Now she understands the pupil informally ‘educated’ fellow students, which Carol suspects could have been the catalyst for a wave of ‘copycat’ cases among autistic pupils. She says the process reminds her of ‘grooming’.

Over the next four years, Carol witnessed an astonishing explosion in the number of children claiming to be transgender.

In all but a very few cases, she says, the children were officially diagnosed as autistic by the local education authority.

Those not formally diagnosed showed clear signs of being on the autistic spectrum, she says.

According to Carol, nine of the 18 children she has seen identify as transgender have been diagnosed with autism while the rest had definite signs of the condition.

‘Typically, these children are bright outsiders,’ she says. ‘I don’t believe they are actually transgender.

They are just young people with complex mental health issues who have found an identity and want to be part of a group of like-minded people.’

According to an internal report, a third of patients referred to the Tavistock Clinic, the UK’s only NHS service for young people confused about their gender, have strong autistic traits.

The dramatic increase in the numbers of pupils wanting to change gender coincided with a growing clamour from activists demanding more rights for transgender people.

The Government is now consulting on whether to allow people to change gender without medical diagnoses.

It has sparked a furious debate about whether men who say they identify as women should be allowed into female-only spaces.

Carol does not back this move but is sympathetic to transgender people.

She said: ‘If a child genuinely has gender dysphoria then of course they should get all the love and support they need.

The website of charity Mermaids contains advice that pupils should not be ‘outed’ as transgender, because their parents may not be supportive. Pictured: Anna Friel and Callum Booth-Ford in the drama Butterfly

'But I believe that autistic children who are not transgender are being exploited by the transgender lobby. They are being brainwashed into believing they are transgender.’

She said what was most worrying is some of them could be taking strong ‘puberty blocker’ drugs that interrupt physical development.

They do this without the knowledge of their parents and without medical supervision, even though the chemicals ‘could give them serious health problems later in life’.

The school, the location of which Carol has asked to keep secret, has 17 pupils who claim they are transgender.

The majority are girls who claim to be ‘non-binary’ or ‘identify’ as boys and a small number of boys who identify as girls. She says they are often bright students who are likeable and popular.

Other girls flock to them as if they are teen idols and some go on dates with them. It seems, Carol says, as if being transgender is in fashion.

Carol describes how some of the more outspoken transgender children police language and behaviour, often accusing teachers and fellow pupils of ‘misgendering’.

British-born Alex Bertie, 23, also has a channel where he shares details of his transition from female to male since the age of 15 with his 300,000 followers

Offence is caused by the use of an incorrect pronoun or by failing to acknowledge a student’s new gender identity.

Last year, this newspaper revealed how a teacher in Oxfordshire faced professional misconduct charges when he ‘accidentally’ called a transgender pupil a ‘girl’ when the student identifies as a boy.

Carol says: ‘I was discussing the topic of menstruation during a class recently and was called out by one of the pupils who now identifies as a boy for failing to say that boys can have periods too.

Of course they can’t and it sounds like a joke but a lot of teachers are terrified of making a slip-up.’

Carol said in the current climate she would ‘not dare’ suggest to a pupil who said they were ‘trans’ that they may be mistaken. ‘If there was a complaint, I could be dismissed.’

She says transgender pupils tend to convert in ‘clusters’ of two or three around the age of 14 and in a very uniform manner: wearing their hair in a quiff and dyeing it blue, black or blond, and starting to wear large round glasses, Dr Martens boots, donkey jackets and tight trousers.

‘I would guess they must all be wearing chest binders [to flatten the breasts] and I was told of one girl who was padding her underwear to make it look like she had a penis.’

The whistleblower said that despite there being a large number of transgender children in the school, there is little guidance from the Department for Education or senior staff on how to handle them

Despite there being such a large number of transgender children in the school, Carol says there is little guidance from the Department for Education or senior staff on how to handle them.

Her union directed her to transgender support group Mermaids, whose online advice warns teachers not to tell parents when a pupil wants to change sex unless ‘there is a safeguarding issue’.

Carol said: ‘In my view there is always a safeguarding issue – particularly when you know that child has underlying mental health problems. Surely every parent has a right to know. Advice to keep it a secret breaks the No 1 rule about child protection.’

Mermaids were unavailable for comment last night,

Carol says transgender pupils at her school sometimes adopt the names of trans YouTubers who have found fame online.

'Butterfly' charity tells schools: Do not let parents know if child wants transition Teachers are being advised not to tell parents if their child wants to change sex. The website of charity Mermaids contains advice that pupils should not be ‘outed’ as transgender, because their parents may not be supportive. ‘Confidential information must not be shared, even with parents and carers, without the child or young person’s permission unless there are safeguarding reasons for doing so,’ the group says, further stressing: ‘Being trans or gender questioning is not a safeguarding concern in itself.’ The charity was set up to help youngsters who are confused about their gender, and helped producers make the recent ITV drama Butterfly about a transgender child, starring Anna Friel and Callum Booth-Ford. It gives its advice in a 50-page Trans Inclusion Schools Toolkit, a guide available on its website for teachers on how to support transgender pupils. The guidance acknowledges teachers will wish to consult with parents when a child confides that they want to identify as the opposite sex. But it states: ‘When working with parents and carers, [schools and colleges] should keep in mind that they are representing the interests of the child or young person. As far as possible, care should be taken to ensure the wishes of the individual are taken into account with a view to supporting them during potential transition.’ The guide promoted by Mermaids was created by Allsorts Youth Group, an LGBT organisation based in Brighton. Advertisement

There have been times when a group of pupils who are identifying as boys all use the same name.

Some internet celebrities have been accused of influencing younger children to think they are transgender when they are not. In one video, popular star Alex Bertie tells a young person who said they were ‘confused’ and ‘didn’t feel trans enough’ that they were ‘repressing’ their transgender identity.

Carol believes that many of the girls who come out as transgender are, in fact, lesbian. They date other girls who are both trans and non-trans, she reveals.

‘From talking to these girls, the thought of being a heterosexual female is terrifying for them, but being known as a lesbian is also unpalatable, so they become transgender. I think as lesbians they would face more bullying but as transgender children they almost become popular.’

The attraction, she says, is that by becoming trans these socially awkward children who have struggled to find acceptance suddenly see their popularity rocket.

‘They have girls flocking around them like handmaidens because they look like pretty little boys,’ she says.

‘They mirror teenage fantasies, resembling popstars like Justin Bieber. These trans kids actually become quite powerful in the school.’

She adds that one of the most worrying ways these pupils exercise their newfound power is by influencing younger children, ‘who are nearly always autistic’, to think they, too, are transgender, which reminds her of grooming.

Carol told of how distressed children would come to her and say they are trans, explaining to her: ‘I was feeling very lost, but [an older transgender student] found me crying in the corridor and helped me understand who I truly am.’

Her concerns come amid growing alarm over the surge in the number of teenage girls wanting to change gender. More than 1,000 were referred for treatment this year compared to just 40 in 2010. Equalities Minister Penny Mordaunt has ordered an investigation into why.

Carol says: ‘I’m now so alarmed by the force of the transgender agenda that I’m not sure how muchlonger I can go on for, as I can no longer be honest with the students.

‘We are being dictated to by groups who don’t know these kids, to make decisions that are harmful to them.

And we are giving children a huge amount of agency to make decisions when what they need are boundaries to make them feel safe and secure. It feels as if we are walking into a nightmare.’

How the only NHS transgender clinic for children 'buried' the fact that 372 of 1,069 patients were autistic

Since 2011, London's Tavistock Centre has treated more than 1,000 under-18s

An interval review found some 35 per cent exhibited autistic traits

But despite the significant number, the clinic did not highlight the result

Expert says it could be symptomatic of their autism rather than a gender issue

Britain's only NHS transgender clinic for children was last night accused of burying disturbing figures showing a third of its young patients are autistic.

Since 2011, specialists at The Tavistock Centre’s Gender Identity Development Service in London have seen more than 1,000 under- 18s.

An internal review discovered 372 of these patients – some 35 per cent – exhibited ‘moderate or severe autistic traits.'

Yet despite the potential significance of the figures – and amid growing concerns that youngsters with developmental and mental health problems are being railroaded into medical treatment for ‘gender dysphoria’ – the finding has never been highlighted by the clinic since its publication in June.

Since 2011, specialists at The Tavistock Centre’s Gender Identity Development Service in London have seen more than 1,000 under-18s

Last night, Stephanie Davies-Arai, founder of parental campaign group Transgender Trends, said: ‘The fact a third of these patients have autistic traits is of huge concern and I would expect clinical professionals to be seriously investigating it.

Therapist overlooked my son's mental health issues The mother of an autistic teenager says she is ‘appalled’ at how the Tavistock Centre accepted her son’s claims that he was transgender but overlooked serious mental health problems. The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, said her 16-year-old son was referred to the clinic by his NHS counsellor after he began insisting ‘out of the blue’ that he wanted to be a girl. The 38-year-old mum said she was ‘extremely upset’ that a senior psychologist accepted her son wanted to change sex, despite knowing he had autism and obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). The expert then told her son, her only child, that he could see doctors at the clinic who could prescribe drugs to help him change sex. ‘The psychotherapist from the Tavistock met him for an hour maximum and then made the assumption that changing sex was something that was very settled in his head,’ the mother said. ‘It was just terrifying. Her main concern was my son’s claims he wanted to be a girl when she should have been worried that he clearly wasn’t in his right mind because of his autism and OCD.’ The Tavistock said: ‘Our assessment process takes place over at least three sessions, often longer. ‘No physical treatment would be offered or suggested after one session.’ Advertisement

'But nobody from the Tavistock Clinic has made a statement about it, nor done anything to highlight the issue as something that should be looked at.

‘In any other clinical area, there would be alarm bells ringing. We urgently need to look into why so many young people on the autistic spectrum are developing gender dysphoria.’

The practice review, conducted by leading clinicians at the centre, was mentioned in a June 28 article on The Tavistock’s website.

However, this focused on the finding that growing numbers of youngsters were ‘questioning conventional gender expectations’ and seeking ‘recognition and acceptance of their gender diversity’.

The fact a high proportion of patients were autistic could only be found by clicking a link to an external website at the bottom of the article.

That took readers to the medical journal Archives of Disease in Childhood, where the six-page review contained these two sentences: ‘A range of psychometric measures are used to assess behavioural and emotional functioning, including features of autistic spectrum disorder and self-harm. Around 35 per cent of referred young people present with moderate to severe autistic traits.’

No more mention was made of this statistic in the review.

When contacted at the time by The Mail on Sunday, co-author Bernadette Wren, consultant clinical psychologist at the Tavistock, said the 35 per cent figure was based on 1,069 children and teenagers referred to the Tavistock’s Gender Identity Development Service between 2011 and 2017, of which 372 were assessed as having autistic traits.

Around four in ten of the service’s patients go on to receive ‘puberty blocking’ drugs – the first stage of sex-change treatment.

If the proportion of potentially autistic patients going on to blockers is the same, then around 150 will have done so.

Autism expert Dr Sally Powis said autistic teenagers searching for a reason why they did not fit in could fixate on the idea they were born into the wrong body – when gender might actually have nothing to do with it.

An internal review discovered 372 of the clinic's 1,000 patients – some 35 per cent – exhibited ‘moderate or severe autistic traits'

She said: ‘If you know you’ve been different since you were a small child, there’s the possibility you consider it’s your gender that’s the issue, rather than autism.’

Teenage girls on the autistic spectrum who bind their breasts might simply be trying to express the feeling that ‘I’m anxious about all this stuff happening to my body, and I don’t know how to handle it,’ she said.

And she cautioned that autistic teenagers who ended up transitioning might deeply regret it if they found swapping gender did not solve their problems.

But she said there were undoubtedly cases of autistic youngsters with genuine gender dysphoria. People with the condition might also be more likely to come out as transgender because they were ‘just a bit more honest’ about their sexuality and gender identity than others, she said.

A spokesman for the Tavistock Centre last night said the finding that many gender dysphoria patients were on the autistic spectrum was not new.

She added: ‘All young people attending our service undertake a comprehensive assessment over a period of time.

‘There is general consensus that a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder is not a reason in itself to exclude individuals from treatment for gender dysphoria.’