Elective Mutism

Elective Mutism - Culture, Family, Travel, Consumer Reviews - Posted: 5th May, 2006 - 11:07pm

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Post Date: 10th Oct, 2004 - 10:33pm / Post ID: #

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Elective Mutism

It's when a child doesn't speak in certain situations. It's not that the child is unable to speak but decides not to speak, usually because of how he or she feels.
Ref. https://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/simplepsych/mutism.html

Have you ever met a child with this problem? How did you help them overcome it?

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11th Oct, 2004 - 12:22am / Post ID: #

Mutism Elective

I have never met a child with this problem,. but I wonder if children that go through this is because they have experienced some kind of trauma or abuse of some kind.



11th Oct, 2004 - 11:50am / Post ID: #

Elective Mutism Reviews Consumer & Travel Family Culture

I work with a guy whose son didn't speak until he was past three. He sort of had his own language of clicks and inhales of breath etc., but he wouldn't speak english. They saw all kinds of doctors, etc., but found no cause. They explained to him that he couldn't go to pre-school if he wouldn't speak and so he then just started speaking in complete sentences. It turns out he is a very brilliant child. A college student now. This is not the same as children who stop speaking because of a trama, but it too, does appear to be as a result of choice.



Post Date: 18th Oct, 2004 - 2:19am / Post ID: #

Elective Mutism
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Mutism Elective

My 3 y/o clams up whenever he's uneasy, and even grabs at his mouth as a physical display that he refuses to speak. He's even left tiny fingernail impressions around his lips from this. It's clearly a defense mechanism. Thankfully, these episodes don't usually last more than 10 minutes or so. That's his normal time frame for adjusting to new people/places/things. I deal with this by encouraging him to relax and breathe deeply. I don't try to force him to speak before he's ready.

5th May, 2006 - 5:44pm / Post ID: #

Mutism Elective

I have worked with a little girl that suffered terribly from this, it was caused through being traumatized early on in her life.

It took several years of really hard work to get her any where near saying words. First off after saying nothing at all until she was nearly 3, she then started to make little humming sounds, and this progressed to humming a sound in replacement to where a word should be. It was really difficult to get her to progress any further, mainly because she didn't trust anyone or anything, and everything had to be at her pace.

When she eventually started speaking, words had to repeated and over emphasized to her again and again.To date, some of her words are still not formed properly, but all in all, she isn't doing so badly.

It is really sad to see how influences in a childs life can damage them so badly.



5th May, 2006 - 10:42pm / Post ID: #

Elective Mutism

I had never heard of this condition before. Is it really that the child will only speak in certain situations, or do they not speak at all? Or are there varying degrees of it? DianeC, in your situation with the girl you spoke of, was the trauma inflicted by those she previously felt safe and comfortable around, or by strangers? I ask this because I can see how either set of people can cause different degrees of the condition.



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5th May, 2006 - 11:01pm / Post ID: #

Elective Mutism

Hi Malexander, from my interpretation, they don't speak at all, I suppose there could be the small percentage that differs to this, but as a rule, it is total muteness in all circumstances.

The little girl that I referred to had suffered abuse from her family, and therefore no longer trusted any human.The effect of this was devastating, she will probably never quite catch up educationally, because she lost so much valuable time in her early years, with not having any interaction whatsoever.

On a lighter note, she is now out of this situation, and moving along 'taking small steps forward'.



5th May, 2006 - 11:07pm / Post ID: #

Elective Mutism Culture Family Travel & Consumer Reviews

Thanks for the clarification, DianeC. Since she was traumatized by family, I can understand why her elective mutism affected her trust in ALL humans, because her family members were the ones she thought she could trust the most. I could also see that if trauma was exacted by strangers, then the child may choose only to speak when around family members, but not anywhere else. Thus the reason I asked the question. Thanks again!




 
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