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Original poster

Children with SELECTIVE MUTISM......

27 replies

RTKangaMummy · 07/05/2006 22:22

.

OP posts:
misdee · 07/05/2006 22:23

?

dd2didnt talk at pe-school for about 6 weeks.

Original poster
RTKangaMummy · 07/05/2006 22:25

DS would speak in the playground but as soon as he was in classroom he wouldn't speak even to his friends

And when at friends or family he wouldn't speak to them either

And then gradually he started to talk to them

Anfd now it is very rare that he won't speak to other people even strangers in strange enviroment

He is now 10 years old Smile

OP posts:
Original poster
RTKangaMummy · 07/05/2006 22:26

my 1st message disappeared Sad

OP posts:
misdee · 07/05/2006 22:27

dd2 wont talk to new people 95% of the time. the pre-school got very worried about her and asked my mum if dd2 ever talked. she does, in fact she is never quiet at home, there is a constant hum from dd2 when she isnt talking.

Original poster
RTKangaMummy · 07/05/2006 22:32

For his base line assessment he scored 0 because his teacher said she knew he knew the answer cos she could see it in his eyes

but as he wouldn't speak he couldn't get a mark

This was the same in reception class so 0 again

he wouldmn't ask a question or answer a question for years

He was put on an IEP in class 5 and his targets were to talk and ask/answer questions

And he had SALT

it worked wonders he had a vdeffo brill teacher who understood his completely

Smile

so good luck to you all Smile

OP posts:
Original poster
RTKangaMummy · 07/05/2006 22:35

She sounds like DS at home he was always talking

OP posts:
misdee · 07/05/2006 22:37

she is talking now, but not much. actually, not sure how much she is talking.

QE · 07/05/2006 22:43

ds3 is 3.4 and has been receiving SALT for over a year.

He couldn't say more than a handful of words at Xmas but now he can say virtually everything although some words are still often not clear enough for even me to understand what he's on about.

He talks NONSTOP at home to me, dh and my 4 other kids very fluently and confidently.

As soon as he walks through the playgroup door, he stops and does not utter a word until he gets back in the car. Funding has now been obtained for a nursery teacher to work with him one-to-one for 4 hours per week.

He will not talk to ANYONE if they come to the house and me trying to coax him to talk to them when they address him doesn't work either.

He refuses to talk to anyone else if we go to their house - including well known and often visited relatives.

It's very frustrating and I am stumped by how to deal with it.

Original poster
RTKangaMummy · 07/05/2006 22:50

We found that not pressing him to speak worked better

If people tried to get him to answer him it made him worse

but know what you mean about silence and then getting in car and non stop talking

especially with long silences when they would ask him a question

It was the same if people came to the house or we went to theirs

OP posts:
QE · 07/05/2006 22:55

I have alternated between pressing him to say goodbye for instance to his gran and grandad when we leave their house and accepting it when he just waves. I try not to pressurise him but sometimes his refusal to say goodbye borders on being downright rude. Luckily the dgp's are pretty easygoing with this.

I did have issue with the nursery once when the lady on the door welcoming them in bent down and said "hello, hello, hello" right in ds's face when he refused to say hello back to her the first time she said it. Angry

Wallace · 08/05/2006 19:38

Thanks for starting this :)

I am impressed how much help your kids have been getting. Dd has been completely mute at nursery since Jan '05, and has never seen a speech therapist or anybody. She has been referred to the educational psychologist and SALT, but no appointments yet.

She doesn't speak to anyone at nursery, or interact with the other children. She is beginning to be a bit more animated and has started joining in circle games. She has two friends outside nursery who she speaks to which is great.

She has improved a lot. A year ago she only spoke to 4 people in the whole world - me, ds, and her 2 friends. She wouldn't even speak to dh. She does speak to a lot more people now, close friends of mine and certain relatives - usually when she chooses. She will never reply to people in shops etc.

She used to stop talking when we walked into the cloakroom at nursery, but now she will happily chatter to me there, especially if it is noisy, but she is also getting a lot better about being overheard. She will even speak to me inside the nursery now, but not if she sees a teacher watching!

She starts school in August (she will be 5 in June) and I am concerned how she will cope. I think she is managing fine at nursery, but then the other day I picked her up and she was in tears as soon as she saw me because she had a sore tummy. Poor little thing was feeling awful and hadn't been able to tell anyone :(

I am hoping she will gradually grow out of it, but I don't think she will ever be the most outgoing person!

gothicmama · 08/05/2006 19:41

dd seems to have out grown it altho is still v quiet sometimes she has gradually started to trust people but we have told her it is ok to speak to them also we mentioned it to SENco at school when she started

heartinthecountry · 08/05/2006 21:18

Hi Wallace - how are things? Was glad to see your cardiac scan was positive.

Re: selective mutism - I don't know an awful lot about it but I have a friend in the US whose daughter is selectively mute. I could ask her what approaches they take.

Did you see the TV program a few weeks ago? I thought the approach they took with the little girl was interesting.

Wallace - I really would have thought your dd should be seeing a SALT and very surprised you haven't been referred.

gothicmama · 08/05/2006 21:21

nursery used to wait for dd to answer and encourage her to answer by giving her time at school the teachr takes a sim approach altho dd's friends will answer for her teacher is tryuing to dicourage this

Wallace · 09/05/2006 19:20

Hi HITC, it would be interesting to see which approaches they use in the US. Dd has been referred to SALT and we received a letter saying we should have an appoinment in hte next 6 weeks - that was about 5 weeks ago! The referral to the EP was made last autumn, but the EP recently had to undergo an emergency hysterectomy so there is a huge backlog.

I did see the programme a couple of weeks ago and liked the approach thye took witht hte little girl. It is sort of like what has been happening naturally with dd, eg first she started speaking to me in the nursery cloakroom, now she will talk to me inside the nursery. I did video it to show the teacher, but it was a very bad recording and she hasn't been able to get it to play.

Celia2 · 10/05/2006 13:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Wallace · 13/05/2006 16:44

Thanks, I will check witht the teacher if she has managed to watch it yet, if not, I will take you up on hte offer.

I am tempted to buy the handbook too, I may wait and see what the SALT or EP suggest. Do let us know how the technique works.

Original poster
RTKangaMummy · 14/05/2006 21:05

**

WATCH HOUSE OF TINY TEARAWAYS

LITTLE BOY HAS RETURNED

**

OP posts:
Wallace · 15/05/2006 08:00

Watched HOTT last night. It was nteresting seeing Tanya trying to work out charlie's rules.

Also interesting was the fact that when he spoke in front of Tanya, she made a point of noticing it, and commenting on it. With dd if a word slips out where it usually doesn't we just carry on as if noting unusual had happened, so we don't "frighten her off"! I wonder what the theory behind tanya's method is.

cod · 15/05/2006 13:44

\link{http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,170-2178947,00.html\article ehre}

Wallace · 15/05/2006 15:58

Thanks cod. Good suggestions in that article.

Wallace · 15/05/2006 21:02

Anyone watch house of tiny tearawaya tonight? I thought it was wonderful when Charlie was speaking to Emily.

Bomper · 16/05/2006 12:22

Hi, I have put a post on Other Subjects and was redirected here. I think my dd1 may have a form of selective mutism, she talks properly when at home with her direct family and to her friends when playing, but when she is spoken to directly by other people (ie/ teachers, shop assistants, waiters, even aunties and uncles) she speaks in barely a whisper, most of the time just mouthing the words but not actually saying them. I assumed it was just her being shy, but having watched House of Tiny Tearaways this week, I was shocked at the similarities between her and the little boy on it. Does this sound like SM to you? Should I have it investigated further?

Wallace · 16/05/2006 14:41

It does sound like Sm - how old is your daughter? What do her terachers say about it? There is a website with the diagnostic criteria on it, but I can't think what the address is st the moment.

Bomper · 16/05/2006 16:43

My dd is 6. Her teachers just say things like 'She needs to speak up a bit, we can hardly hear her' and 'It's strange, when she's with her friends you can hear her across the room but when I talk to her she just clams up!!'. They don't know that she is like this with all adults except me and dh. That website sound really good, I will have to try and google it.