to Sandi's Selective Mutism Page

What do you do when you learn that your bright, precocious, six year old daughter has never spoken in school ?

At first, you think, "well this will pass, I'm sure she'll speak soon."

But . . .after a few months, and your child is still not speaking, a diagnosis of Selective Mutism is made.

Selective WHAT?

This is the situation I faced four years ago when my daughter Samantha was in first grade. After the first three months of school, I got a call from her first grade teacher advising me that she in fact, had never heard my daughter speak. I thought that this was very strange since Samantha had always been a very verbal toddler and had spoken a lot in pre-school. I noticed that she was a little subdued in kindergarten, but she did speak to her teacher and her kindergarten friends.

Initially, I decided the best course of action was not to focus on the situation. I was afraid that if Samantha sensed that pressure was being placed on her to speak, this might make the situation worse.

However, when she reached second grade and the situation had not resolved itself, I began to do research on the topic of selective mutism to learn more about this disorder and Samantha began to see a therapist.

And thus began my quest to help my daughter find her voice.

 
 
 

 
 

 
 

Links

Selective Mutism Group http://www.flinet.com/~diverse/smg/