Selective Mutism

I just thought I would post some information here on this issue. I did not see it anywhere on the board, and I have some experience with it. I have a child that has this condition, we figured it out a year ago. She is now 7yrs old. The funny thing is, I didn't think anything was wrong with her. I thought it was just her being shy. I could relate. I think I suffered from the same thing when I was younger. I don't think I fully got over it until I met my wife. The problem was that she was not speaking in class at school. Her entire kindergarden and first grade years went by without one word spoken aloud in class. We were able to get her to whisper to the teacher at times though. It seems a bit extreme, but like I said, I was also "very shy" when I was young. I thought she would just grow out of it. Then she started second grade. We were back to square one again(as we were every year). The teacher she has now is a Godsend. She goes the extra mile to help my daughter adjust. She has spent time with her one-on-one after school, just playing games and letting her be a helper. She is the one that researched this condition on her own and asked us about it. I had never heard of it before, and started gathering information. I could not believe what I was reading. It was her in every detail. Since then, we have her seeing a therapist and she is making wonderful progress. She is interacting on the playground and talking with other children now. She still is not speaking in class, but the improvement is overwhelming. I have included a few links to find out more about Selective Mutism. I hope it helps others as it did for us.

http://www.asha.org/public/speech/di...ive-Mutism.htm
http://www.selectivemutism.org/
http://www.selectivemutismcenter.org/

Hi IG -- I do have a friend on another forum who has a child with Selective Mutism. Would you like me to see if she'd like to correspond with you?