09/01/2026
A study came out in JAACAP this month that I've already sent to three colleagues.
Researchers followed kids around age 10 and screened them for suicidal thoughts for a full year. Some of these kids got asked weekly. Fifty-two times. And their suicidal thinking didn't budge. Not the low-risk kids, not the high-risk kids.
Parents ask me about this constantly. What if the question puts the idea in her head? I understand the fear, I do. But I've asked hundreds of kids by now, and the question has never once created the thought. Kids are not that fragile. The ones who aren't struggling shrug and say no, same as if you'd asked whether they're sleeping okay. Honestly the adults in the room are usually more nervous than the kid.
Then there's the kid who goes quiet.
Every clinician knows that pause. Something they've been carrying for months, sometimes longer, and nobody asked. That silence breaking is where treatment starts. I have never regretted asking. I have regretted waiting.
We build this into everything we do at Little Dove Psychology, and it's a big part of why the consulting work with Children's Wisconsin has meant so much to me these past several years. Jenny Walczak and Amy Herbst have led an effort to screen every child, at every visit. Broken arm, cardiology follow-up, doesn't matter. Early in my career that would have sounded impossible. I've now watched those screens catch kids nobody had flagged, more than once.
If you're a parent sitting with this, ask your kid. Say the actual word. Silence is the riskier option.
Study in the comments.
