Child abuse comes in many forms, and often enough, it doesn’t leave any physical scars. But just because you can’t see the scars doesn’t mean they’re not there.
We’d like to think that the Department of Health and Human Services would care about preventing child abuse in all its forms. After all, “Health and Human Services” makes it sound like they care about health and humans. But if we actually thought that, we’d be deluding ourselves.
According to HHS’ Office of Head Start, child abuse should be encouraged, at least in the form of forcing autistic children to wear masks:
The page was last updated on February 10, 2023.
That means that as of February 10, 2023, the Office of Head Start and HHS strongly recommend that autistic children be forcibly masked despite everything we know about what forced masking has done to children, including those who are not autistic.
Mask wearing is an emerging skill.
- Children should never be disciplined for not wanting to wear a mask.
- Help children learn how to wear a mask consistently to be healthy and safe by showing them how to wear their mask so it fits securely over their mouth, nose, and chin.
- Help children find a mask that is comfortable and that they can keep on all the time.
- Give positive feedback to children for their efforts, and keep it playful!
Social stories may be helpful in making children comfortable wearing masks. Children love to read stories that include their pictures and photos of people they know. You can make your own social story with photos of adults and children in your program.
The American Academy of Pediatrics offers families ideas for helping children get used to wearing a mask. Sesame Street in Communities has created short videos where familiar characters practice wearing masks.
Notice the first bullet point above: “Children should never be disciplined for not wanting to wear a mask.” Well, Julia the autistic Muppet was depicted as unnerved and scared by her own mask, and instead of her fears and needs being respected, she was goaded into wearing it anyway. By her parents (apparently her dad is some kind of doctor who thinks that masking is necessary when kids go outside). Lucky for her she was ultimately compliant, or who knows what it would’ve taken to get her to keep that mask on? How many actual autistic kids or other special-needs kids out there would have relented so easily? Remember when families were tossed off of flights because their special-needs toddlers refused to keep their masks on?
Families don’t need ideas for helping children get used to wearing a mask; they need ideas for how to help their kids deal with the psychological damage that’s been inflicted upon them in the name of COVID safety.
If you thought the clip was awful, wait til you see the full video:
Far be it from us to tell Muppets how to parent, but the kind of parenting depicted in that video is not the kind of parenting any parent should be doing.
Shame on HHS. And shame on “Sesame Street,” while we’re at it.
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