How unusual development was sometimes explained by folklore instead of need.
A different child was turned into a frightening story.
Changeling beliefs offered a way to explain children who developed differently, cried constantly, did not speak, behaved unexpectedly or seemed unlike other children.
The harm was that the explanation could make the child seem less human, less belonging, or even not truly part of the family.
Awareverse sees a modern warning here. When adults decide a child's distress is manipulation or badness before understanding need, they repeat the same pattern in new language.
When looking at changeling children, ask: who had power, who was being labelled, and what would have changed if the human being had been seen first?