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Behaviour/development

selective mutism??

9 replies

sophynoo · 16/08/2006 10:07

my dd is nearly 7 and although very chatty with her friends and me/my dh , she refuses to speak to any adults, including my mum and all teachers. she is very shy, but im thinking she may have selective mutism, where the child shuts down and cant communicate in certain situations/with certain people. she sometimes smirks and squeaks but wont talk, making her look rude, at times its very frustrating as at home she is v happy and loud, also with her friends she is v confident. Anyone have any experience of selective mutism at all???

OP posts:

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CarolinaMao · 16/08/2006 16:40

just a bump really.

I used to be like this with teachers and some adults at that age.

I think in my case I was self-conscious about my accent - we'd moved from London to the north-east and were virtually the only ones not born and bred there, so I got a lot of teasing about it.

Presumably there's nothing like that going on here though?

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PandaG · 16/08/2006 16:45

I am a childminder, and once had a child who was selective mute with me, but would talk to me with no problems at her house. No advice, just a bump really.

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cat64 · 16/08/2006 16:54

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starbright · 16/08/2006 17:00

Hi sophynoo-My ds who is 5 has selective mutism and a speech and language delay.
He has been having speech therapy for about 2 years now and we are not sure if the speech problems caused the selective mutism as he is quite a prefectionist and likes to get things right.So we are maybe thinking he stays quiet as he knows he can't get it right.

If you do a current search for my nickname under special needs you will see a thread I started on selective mutism.
I am busy at the moment but will return to this thread later and if their is anything you would like to ask me feel free.
I don't claim to be an expert far from it but have researched it quite a lot and I find talking to others who have a selectively mute child is far more helpful than trawling through pages and pages of a book.

AS you say your dd may not have SM but you might recognise some of the behaviour through talking to others.

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starbright · 16/08/2006 17:17

sophynoo-The other thread Cat64was referring to was mine as well but posted it under the nickname tiptoes as not to confuse the two issues I have at the moment.

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cat64 · 16/08/2006 21:11

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starbright · 16/08/2006 21:40

sorry for the hijack sophynoo-

Cat64-Thanks for your concern.No progress as yet .Stil awaiting for the LEA to get back to me.

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PurpleGrapeJuice · 16/08/2006 22:39

As a speech and language therapist in my former life (before children), please do get a referral if speech (or lack of) is causing any restrictions to your child's life.