Selective Mutism

Does your child speak normally at home but fail to talk at school or daycare? Perhaps your child have some speech but appears completely unable to talk in social situations. Your child may have selective mutism instead of autism or your child could have both selective mutism and autism. Selective mutism is a severe social anxiety disorder. Selective mutism can be effectively treated by a child psychiatrist in most instances. Work with a child psychologist or ABA therapist can also help. Check out the videos below:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002513/ --Selective mutism defined.

http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/selectivemutism.htm --Selective mutism defined; possible speech therapy interventions.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/917147-overview --Discussion of disorder from a medical perspective.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_mutism --selective mutism defined; links to articles.

http://www.selectivemutism.org/ --support group.

http://www.selectivemutismfoundation.org/ --support group with Yahoo! group.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8935208 --Fluoxetine (Prozac) alleviated symptoms of selective mutism (a severe anxiety disorder where the child is able to speak but basically appears mute in social situations) in 76% of the kids in the study. Social anxiety disorder is over-represented in kids with autism. A high percentage of kids with selective mutism also have speech disorders.

Recommended Book: Selective Mutism in Children by Tony Cline BA, DipPsych and Sylvia Baldwin BA (Hons), MSc--available via Amazon.com and other online sources.

http://www.selective-mutism.com/index.html --Another book on selective mutism that may be helpful.

http://www.drelisashiponblum.org/SMartMart.html --more books and DVDs that might be helpful.

http://www.social-anxiety.com/area.html --more books and articles that might be helpful.

Note: My older son with high functioning classic autism was treated with fluoxetine, starting at just under age four, for selective mutism. Treatment for this comorbid condition greatly helped with speech therapy. He became much more responsive and easier to work with after starting the medication.