Selective Mutism
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re : Selective Mutism 
16/01/2012 22:17 - Special Needs / Tutors Required
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Hi,
I have a 5 year old little girl with SM. She was diagnosed last year when she was in junior infants. She does not talk in school and most social situations but she is full of chat at home. At home she is a totally different child. We thought she was just a very shy child until it was brought to our attention by her teacher. She is receiving a little help but none at school due to all the cutbacks sm is no longer recognised as needing resource hours which is so sad.
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re : Selective Mutism
17/04/2011 22:42 - Special Needs / Tutors Required
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I have an 8 year old girl in second class who has never spoken outside the home love to hear from any other parents who have same any hints or tips in dealing with school and so on
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re... : Selective Mutism
26/04/2011 15:20 - Special Needs / Tutors Required
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Hi,
Have you had your child referred to a Speech and Language Therapist? Speech Therapists have lots of experience with working with children with Selective Mutism.
Thanks,
Caitriona SLT
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Selective Mutism
08/06/2010 16:34 - Special Needs / Tutors Required (Locality: Tipperary)
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Just wondering is there anyone else on here that has a child with Selective Mutism?
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re... : Selective Mutism
24/03/2013 17:06 - Special Needs / Tutors Required
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Hi I have just applied for resource teaching to help my 5 year old with sm and psychologist phrased letter as emotional disturbance and said it was a psychiatric disorder which should help with the application. Thats a disgrace, my daughter is receiving resource at moment and started the sliding in process. Interesting channel 4 documentary on it on u tube- help my child to speak.
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re... : Selective Mutism
26/04/2011 22:50 - Special Needs / Tutors Required
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Getting therapy can help esp. to assess a child to ensure there aren´t any other problems alongside the SM.
But it´s not the only thing a child with selective mutism needs and we found..this is only our experience and each child is unique so may not apply to others..that it didn´t help a bit and the waiting list was so ridiculously long that for some reason after a long time waiting we were given a letter to say to attend to be put on a waiting list which we should of been on already it was ridiculous.
Because waiting lists are so long in the mean time parents can do things to help their kids.
A huge thing with SM is down to confidence and making a child feel good about themselves. Low self esteem is very common.
Getting a child involved in something they enjoy can help if it´s sport, or reading, or just riding a bike any kind of activity the child enjoys can help the child relax and forget about their worries for a while. The more relaxed and at ease a child feels the more they might be inclined to talk.
The past year has been a real sucess for us, our dd is now 12 so this has been going on a long time. Some kids will gain confidence as they mature so when they are in this mode it can help to encourage their confidence by getting them involved in activities they enjoy and taking them away from the place they mostly don´t speak in.
Our dd is now speaking, ok she´s quiet but she´s speaking in most public situations and has in the past 6 months started speaking directly to some people and actually we forget about her not talking at times because she´s become more confident and this is mostly down to the fact that where most of this is happening is not where we live. When she´s away from the area where she knows she won´t bump into anyone from school she feels more at ease. I´m not saying people should move but if some parents can think of places their kids enjoy going to eg maybe visiting relatives that live in another county maybe try visiting more often and taking the child out and about with them where they know they won´t see others from school.
Because our dd is heading to 6th class next Sept. I hope but doubt she will speak in school so they haven´t a clue how well she´s come on, must update them soon on the improvements.
Sometimes there are just areas where sm kids can´t cope with and commonly it´s school.
Ok it´s important that they speak in school so I guess this is where therapists should concentrate mostly on and while that´s going on parents should work on something else. Maybe parents shouldn´t mention school to their sm kid and concentrate on other activities that their child enjoys..ie if the main place they don´t speak is in school.
Some sm kids have such low self esteem but when they achieve something they are proud of even a small thing they are so elated and it really gives them a boost.
Confidence confidence confidence is the key without over doing it and praising them every five seconds, think about things you know will give your child confidence and go with it.
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