Our son has always been sensitive and shy, slow to warm up but confident at home and with friends/family. We always just thought that was his character as we were both shy too growing up.
his nursery have mentioned a few times that when he’s upset he sometimes won’t speak or say what’s wrong, he will just freeze. He does do that occasionally at home if he’s really upset and he will talk to us once he’s calmed down. It doesn’t happen often at home.
I googled it after the nursery mentioning it today and saw that it coul be selective mutism. I then realised I also have a lot of the traits for example being very shy as a child, not speaking to certain grown ups and definitely at school and university I HATED public speaking even just in a small group or class, I would get so anxious when it was coming up to my turn and then go red. I would also avoid answering questions in class in case I got it wrong.
I realise it always was put down to just being shy and I now realise I didn’t fulfill my potential at school due to a fear of getting things wrong in front of people.
i do ensure I meet up with friends (both for myself and my son) and let my son see this and be involved, as well as encouraging him not to give up if he can’t do something first time and encouraging him to have a go at things without forcing him. I don’t want to force him to be someone he’s not but also I don’t want this to hold him back in life.
The nhs website says it should be treated and not just put down to shyness as it can get worse, and should be dealt with by a speech and language therapist.
I wondered if anyone here has been through this and whether treatment was helpful?