From pregnant mums who suddenly seemed to be in the firing line for taking paracetamol (known as Tylenol in the USA), to drug companies for not including warnings, then tilting unexpectedly towards a time- honoured Kennedy favourite of vaccines.

Set against the backdrop of a class action lawsuit against the makers of Tylenol, the language was highly emotive, ill-informed, gendered and targeted.

The misinformation and scant regard for science was rife. Trump’s own understanding of incidence and prevalence data seemed uncertain, as he asserted ‘… when you go from 20,000 to 10,000 and then you go to 12, you know there's something artificial. They're taking something’.

Let's be clear: the actual rate of autism in the US is around one in 31, while the WHO uses one in 100, and many in the medical community have refuted the strength of evidence for a causal link between autism and Tylenol.

So, what are teachers of autistic children to make of the goings on that have created so much havoc, particularly for people within the neurodiverse community?

The first step is to sort the facts from the myths and half-truths. The best way for teachers to do this is to find locally relevant, respected health services within their own community.

While obviously it is not the role of teachers to provide medical advice, it is prudent to understand when significant issues have potential to cause such distress in our school communities and a practical response to it.

This is supportive in two ways; firstly by establishing the facts surrounding medication, autism, vaccines and pregnancy, and secondly by making sure there is a useful and appropriate point of contact that can support children, families and school communities.

Local health services, Aboriginal health services, maternal and child health nurses or the Better Health Channel website can all offer locally relevant health information when needed.

There were several suggestions in the press conference that harked back to much earlier times, and myths about autism which somehow refuse to die.

One was the notion that ‘refrigerator mothers’ (a term coined by Leo Kanner back in the 1940s) who were cold, aloof and lacked emotional connection were to blame for their child having autism.

The other was that the MMR vaccine was linked to increased rates of autism. Neither of these myths have any substance behind them and have long since been discredited.

The second takeaway action after the conference is to check in with families, teachers and children who may have been distressed or confused by it.

Be available and informed about what occurred, and ready to offer support if it is needed – long after the social media posts have become yesterday’s news.

Ensure the school is and feels welcoming and inclusive in the long term; a place where everyone is valued and cherished, with teachers and school leaders linking together with families and neurodiverse students.

The third practical step is to think about what the press conference can teach about inclusive language. The words we use when we talk with or about children and their caregivers is important.

Chosen well, words help people feel they have a place they belong, and that they are perfect just as they are. Chosen badly or used with harmful intent, words can injure and distress, leaving people feeling less valued than others in the community.

Casting neurodiverse students as ‘damaged,’ referring to autism as an ‘epidemic,’ beseeching women to ‘tough it out’ rather than using Tylenol during pregnancy and fielding without challenge to a reporter’s questions about ‘adults in diapers,’ are terms designed to feed into deficit-based thinking.

Lastly, the press conference was an invitation to remind ourselves about fundamental scientific principles. Anecdotal information is not a replacement for scientific rigor and objective, large scale research.

Correlation is not the same as causation – just because two things increase or happen at the same time, does not mean that one causes the other.

It’s about as logical as thinking that because you see more fire engines at house fires, the fire engines are somehow the cause of the fire.

As teachers and school leaders, this is a time to gather closely with the neurodiverse school community; to listen carefully and respectfully, hold space and respond with purpose in a deeply disturbing time.