A Voice for Selective Mutism: Information, forum and a diary of Sertraline treatment for selective mutism

Selective mutism (SM) is a rare psychological disorder in children. It is almost twice as common as Autism. As awareness increases the number of children diagnosed will be certain to rise. Children with SM are fully capable of speech and understanding language, but are not able to speak in certain situations when it is expected of them. They function normally in other areas of behavior and learning, but appear severely withdrawn and some are unable to take part in group activities due to their extreme anxiety. It is a disorder that many try to dismiss as shyness. A child may be completely silent at school, but speak freely at home.

How is SM characterized?

• Consistent failure to speak in specific social environments (where the child is expected to speak, ie. school) despite speaking in other environments (at home).
• The child's inability to speak interferes with his or her ability to function in educational and/or social settings.
• According to the official psychiatric diagnostic manual DSM-IV, a child who has developed normally at home but has not talked at school or in other social situations for at least a month is a strong candidate for a diagnosis of SM.
• The inability to speak is not due to a lack of knowledge of, or comfort with, the spoken language required in the social situation.
• The child may not be able to speak at home under certain conditions. For example, a child that does something wrong (ie. breaks a household rule) may become very anxious when a parent questions the child, thus the child may not be able to respond to the parent.

More information

Selective mutism is not a communications disorder and is not part of a developmental disorder. Selective mutism does not include children with conduct disorders, oppositional/defiant behavior, and/or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The principal problem in children with selective mutism is anxiety. This anxiety is closest to the definition of social anxiety disorder (social phobia - a phobia is extreme irrational fear). Most adults with social anxiety disorder relate strongly and can fully understand selective mutism, even though they themselves were not necessarily children with selective mutism.

This web site

This web site was created to help create support for those who are looking. It was also created to help with awareness. Through knowledge and therapy the "Silent" Child can gradually learn to speak in the environments that cause the anxiety. Parents and Teachers need the knowledge in order to understand that therapy is a very slow process which takes a great deal of patience from members of the family and employees at the School.

We are not Psychologists, we are parents of children with SM. We recognized that the only resources that we had in our area were; the internet and books. It is also hard to find Psychologists with experience with SM. This web site will help by allowing parents to talk to other parents who have Children with SM.

 

Goals

We would like be able to help parents of Children with SM by providing information; either by sharing our experiences in the forum, or links to informative web sites. The link to the Selective Mutism Support Group is at the bottom of this page and on the "more info page" of this website. The fourm was created in the spring of 2008 due to a lack of support available in my area.

Chat about Selective Mutism

 

 

In 2001 Paul McCartney released an Album that included a song about SM.

 

"She's Given up on Talking"

"She's Given Up Talking" from Paul McCartney's 2001 album Driving Rain:

 

Don't say a word
Even in the classroom
Not a dickie bird
Unlike other children
She's seen and never heard
She's given up talking
Don't say a word

You see her in the playground
Standing on her own
Everybody wonders
Why she's all alone
Someone made her angry
Someone's got her scared
She's given up talking
Don't say a word

Ah but when she comes home
It's yap-a-yap-yap
Words are running freely
Like the water from a tap
Her brothers and her sisters
Can't get a word in edgeways
But when she's back at school again
She goes into a daze

Ah but when she comes home
It's yap-a-yap-yap
Words are running freely
Like the water from a tap
Her brothers and her sisters
Can't get a word in edgeways
But when she's back at school again
She goes into a daze

She's given up talking
Don't say a word
Even in the classroom
Not a dickie bird
Unlike other children
She's seen and never heard
She's given up talking
Don't say a word

She's given up talking
She don't say a word

 

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