Selectively Mute Children

[*NikkiBell*]

Has anyone ever known or taught a selectively mute child? What advice do you have for those who are experiencing this now?

 

[Sparx]

I might just be having a blonde moment, but what is SELECTIVELY mute? I know what mute is, but not selectively. is this just another way to say it? TIA

 

[Pinnie]

Has anyone ever known or taught a selectively mute child? What advice do you have for those who are experiencing this now?

I had 2 selective mutes last year in my Kindergarten class. We had them evaluated by the Speech Therapist and had an IEP and she started working with them. We had success with one but the other child we felt needed more intervention and referred her parents to her pediatrician for possible social anxiety disorder.

pinnie

 

[DVCLiz]

I don't have any personal experience, but the author Torey Hayden has written several wonderful books on her work, and she specialized in working with elective mutism in children. It's fascinating to read some of her case histories. Do a search on Amazon - some of her other books deal with other childhood issues, so you want to focus on the ones that deal with elective mutism.

Sparx, elective mutism is usually an emotional disorder - a child has suffered some trauma and chooses not to speak. Therapy usually helps the child overcome the trauma and begin to speak again.

 

[damo]

My parents have a neighbour with a 13 y.o. DD like that. It is very strange. When she is near them she just points and grunts, etc. but when she was putting on a little play with my neice, she could talk just fine!

 

[J.C.&ALI'SMOM]

I am a speech pathologist and have encountered kids with elective mutism. It was hard to tell teachers that there really isn't anything we could do for a child who has the ability to communicate in an age appropriate way but doesn't because they choose not to. This is a psychological problem not a speech problem.

 

[Bella the Ball 360]

I am a speech pathologist and have encountered kids with elective mutism. It was hard to tell teachers that there really isn't anything we could do for a child who has the ability to communicate in an age appropriate way but doesn't because they choose not to. This is a psychological problem not a speech problem.

You are totally right. I am a sped teacher and although I have never personally had one of these kids my son had a girl in his class who was Selectivly Mute. It is a odd psychological problem and very intersting to read the diagnosis in the DSM-IV. It pretty much boild down to they can but they won't. It can be treated with drugs used for social anxiety and occasionally those used for OCD.

Sometimes I wish my husband or kids would practice this!!

 

[Miller1412]

I had a little girl in Kindergarten that was selectively mute a few years ago. To be honest, I never really did know what to do with her. She not only was mute, but wanted to just wander around and do her own thing, so I made my goal for her to be sitting with the group as much as possible, and making her feel cared for and welcome. She never talked to me even once the entire year. Twice, she whispered a word to another girl. That was real progress. She ended up in a special ed setting and made lots of progress there the next year.

 

[Sparx]

Sparx, elective mutism is usually an emotional disorder - a child has suffered some trauma and chooses not to speak. Therapy usually helps the child overcome the trauma and begin to speak again.

Ok, I thought something along those lines, but I wasn't sure. Thanks!

 

[fivefordisney]

Yes, I had a first grader who did not speak for the entire year. The more her mother pushed her to speak, the more resolute she was! I would just give her multiple choices for many things (color of paper, lunch orders, etc) and she would simply point. I am sure she missed out on quite a few thing because she did not speak. She did eventually speak in third grade, but still it was a rare occasion.

I later took a job at the Middle School and was shocked to see this little girl speaking with her friends. She clammed up as soon as adults were around.

At some point she learned there was power in her silence...

I very recently read the young adult novel SPEAK. I often wondered what originally made my young student stop speaking...

It is really frustrating as a teacher...

 

[Jynohn]

My son had selective mutism until he was in second grade. We never considered it much of a problem until he started school, because he had completely normal speech development at home. However, he would not say a word to anyone outside of the immediate family, even people he had known since he was a baby. My pediatrician told me he was "just a little shy" and would grow out of it in time. Other than the selective mutism he was a perfectly normal little boy, he made friends easily, even without talking to them, and had no behavioral or other emotional problems and no trauma that would have caused this.

Once he got to first grade it started becoming a real problem because the teacher couldn't evaluate his progress since he wouldn't participate in class. I had consulted psychologists before, but I finally heard about selective mutism on 20/20 and it was like a light went off. I was just so relieved to know there was a name for this and hopefully help out there. We finally found a specialist in our area who prescribed medication for DS. I was really conflicted about medicating him, but felt like I needed to try anything to help him. He was on Paxil for a matter of weeks before he finally began speaking outside of the family! Once he overcame that boundary it was only a few months later and he was talking up a storm just like any other kid. He came off the medication less than 6 months later and we have had no problems since. It was like he just needed that little push to get him over the anxiety, and once he overcame the fear of talking out loud he was fine.

He just started 7th grade, and his teachers in school now have no idea that there ever was a problem. In fact, I had a small laugh to myself last year at parent conferences when the teacher told me she sometimes had to correct him for talking too much

DS is now an outgoing, social kid with lots of friends and absolutely no sign of there ever having been a problem. So there is hope for kids out there suffering from this awful disorder.