An oft-misunderstood condition is selective mutism, in which a child only talks to certain people due to severe anxiety. Here’s what you need to know about the symptoms, causes, and treatments.
There are a few reasons why your child might not speak in certain social situations. He or she might lack confidence and think that their voice “sounds funny,” or they feel that they might say something wrong and the adults or other children won’t like them. Here are some ways to distinguish the disorder of Selective Mutism from a normal case of shyness:
- They only refuse to talk in a specific situation, where in many other situations they exhibit normal social behavior.
- The mutism inteferes with school and other parts of their lives.
- It lasts for one month or more, the first month of school excluded.
- The child is otherwise comfortable with spoken language.
Here’s a dramatic portrait of how selective mutism looks, sounds, and feels in real life:
Abuse and traumatic events are never completely ruled out as a possible cause for selective mutism. Most often, however, the children are found to have a social anxiety disorder that causes the selective mutism, despite having a happy home life. If the parents are good parents, but exhibit some sort of anxiety in social situations, the child may have learned this response at a young age by watching his parents. It may also be possible that the parents are good parents, exhibit no anxiety in social situations, but the child still develops selective mutism. Usually, selective mutism also goes along with the child being naturally timid, shy or sensitive.
Some of the treatments that a Speech-Lanuage Pathologist might use to treat a child with Selective Mutism are the self-modeling technique, shaping and stimulus fading.
Self-modeling is where the parents take a video of the child speaking and talking to people in a situation in which they feel comfortable enough to speak. The child is then shown the video tape. The theory behind this treatment is that the child will see and hear herself talking, which will help build confidence. This will also show her that she doesn’t “sound funny” when she is speaking – it gives her an outside view of herself.
Shaping is when a child is put in a situation similar to the one where she doesn’t speak. She is then told to communicate in other ways, such as whispering and hand motions. Gradually the communication becomes more comfortable, until the child begins to start speaking audibly with no problems.
The stimulus fading technique involves having the child sit in a comfortable environment with a parent, while her parent has her perform simple tasks with rewards when she completes them. Gradually and casually, a new person comes into the room to take over the tasks, and the parent gradually leaves. The slow “fading” process is designed to let the child get used to a new person while she carries on with her tasks.
An anti-depressant might be prescribed in a small dose to help the child initially while she goes through the behavorial treatment program. The child will most likely overcome selective mutism, with treatment speeding the process along.
Click here to watch a short video about the ROOT CAUSE of all anxiety.
No related posts.