Selective Mutism - anyone else experienced with their child?

[sazzler197]

My little girl is 5 and is such a chatty little girl at home, infact she does not stop talking, at school though she is like a different child and will not speak to her teacher's when she is spoken to! She will speak with her friends ok but not her teacher's, it has gone on that long that they want us to meet up with an educational physcologist! Just wondering if anyone else's lo's have been like this and if there are any success stories, my lo has been like this now for 2 years, she loves going to school though so it is not like she does not like it and she says she likes her teacher!

Thanks

My son has Asperger's Syndrome but I have long believed he has suffered from selective mutism as part of this.

I have to say it has got easier as he has got older but it has not been easy. He will now talk quite happily in all contexts about things he likes or answer questions in class but he still struggles with personal things or 'things about me' and this means that I am more involved than I would expect to be in communicating things for him in school.

I am about to try ABA to help with this. He is 10 now and I think this issue has not been tackled particularly effectively because he can speak well in some contexts and not others so the difficulties are not well understood.

It is a really good thing that she is getting help so early. Sadly, I had to fight for this for my son as his old school seemed to think a child who didn't talk was not a problem!

Keep posting and tell us how you get on.

My DD is now 8 years old Sazzler and had SM from the moment she went to nursery. Like your DD she was fine with her friends but not with adults.

She now speaks to teachers and some other adults but I do still have to prompt her a little.

She was suspected to be somewhere on the spectrum for ASD but didn't meet enough criteria. She's very factual and very creative at the same time...her reading age is 13 and her writing is atrocious....she is however, happy and gaining confidence.

Brownies has helped her a LOT as has my encouraging her in all the things she is good at. I never, ever told her off for her silence and neither did her lovely teachers.

My son, like inappropriately's has a very specific form of SM linked to his autism. He will answer fact-based questions (on 'lesson subjects') from teachers, but cannot greet, initiate, or answer socially based questions (like 'what did you do at the weekend?'). He will speak freely to a few friends and reasonably well to other children. He is in year 6 now and this has only just been confirmed as selective mutism. He is about to start a programme devised by speechtherapist and clinical psych so I'll let you know if we have any success!

Inappropriately - have you seen this piece on the SMIRA website? I found Maggie Johnson's response very helpful in clarifying in my mind what the definition of SM when it isn't completely pervasive is:
www.smira.org.uk/faq/15-selective-mutism/36-am-i-wrong-about-my-daughter-could-she-just-be-very-shy

www.smira.org.uk/faq/15-selective-mutism/36-am-i-wrong-about-my-daughter-could-she-just-be-very-shy

forgot to convert link...

Ilikemysleep, that's a fab link! I believe my ds 5 has seletive mutism and that's helped loads as he speaks sometimes but not initiated or conversationally in settings outside the home. He has social anxiety which is currently under investigation to see if caused by ASD.

He also speaks to friends in school but no it if an adult is watching.

Our dd2 is 5, we've taken her to a private therapist who says she has asd and selective mutism! A study has been conducted recently so not a lot of info on it yet, which connects asd and sm with girls! Her consultant also pointed out that girls can hide these things far easier than boys! Dd2 has been in gym for over 2 years now, and she has never spoken a word to another a child and refuses to speak to the adults as well :( she is not bothered at all about other children and even less about adults! But at home she's a chatter box and has screaming tantrums :( x

I had it. I was classed as very shy. I had words inside my head that did not want to leave in any sensible order, so they just stayed there. I was speech delayed, anyhow, but the "shyness" persisted well into primary school.

I would like to say you can't shut me up, now, but only when I'm on a pet subject and not too tired to speak. I still suffer with aphasia, which even affects my ability to type. When i type "there are no words" I'm usually not exaggerating.

DS1 had it all tied in with his speech delay. He started nursery with lots of words, but limited communication ability. He went 2 whole terms at nursery without speaking to anyone. PECS actually gave him the confidence he needed. He would have nothing to do with PECS at home. He mithers for England, now.

And my niece has it. She was speech delayed, too. She's almost 12, now and talks in a confident loud voice to MIL, her mum (of course) and her closest friends. She talks quietly and as briefly as possible to everyone else and can do no more than nod or shake her head when DH talks to her! She's a bit intimidated by men, anyhow, but DH told her off for throwing stuff around when she was about 4 and she's never got over that! (All he said was "stop that!" but he's got quite a deep voice! She never had the same reaction to me telling her off for something similar.)