Has Anyone Ever Heard of Selective Muteness?

K.,

YES! Our daughter did not speak at mothers day out. She was also very shy, but the problem turned out to be anxiety. If this is the case for your daughter, it may turn up in other areas too, and you will need to do something to help her through it. If she talks at home and is developing language, you may have fewer problems, but for us, this lead to some language delays in expression that still linger today (she is 11). Therapy may be in order, check with your pediatrician for a referal to a speech therapist, and be on the look out for other related issues in her development.

M.

I have heard of it. I am a teacher and my friend had a child in her class that didn't speak at school just at home. It was something that the child was able to work through. When I left the school the child attended she was in second grade and still wasn't talking to the teachers very much, but was at least talking to the students more and more. I would ask your pediatrician about it.

I have never personally had this issue, but I did hear about it on a news show or something like 20/20 or 60 minutes. It is where the child, who may be very active at home around mom/parents, becomes very nervous and scared, so nervous and scared they can't possibly make themselves speak in public or at school. Through therapy they get the kids speaking and playing with friends. From what I saw and understood, most these children do not even talk when they go to the store and such with their parents. They become that shy and withdrawn.
One thing you could try to do, is invite a friend from school over to the house. Someone she plays with regularly. If she talks to her at home where she is comfortable, maybe she will be more comfortable at school with this child around.
My cousins were very withdrawn at school their first few years. They were joke tellers and talkers at family parties and such but at school they didn't say a thing. They had stomache issues because they got that nervous. It took a lot of work but now they are both doing great as they progress through elementary school.
I would mention something to the peditrian next time your in the office though. Just to see. Maybe they can give you some more ideas.

K.,
I am a speech-language pathologist. I have worked with a couple children with selective mutism. You can have your child evaluated for free through the Early Intervention Program. You can find out who to contact through your local school district. Your child should be evaluated by a speech therapist, pediatrician, and a psychologist/psychiatrist. There is an informative article through the American Speech and Hearing Association. The link is http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/SelectiveMuti.... You can search the site for many articles by entering selective mutism in the search engine. As a speech therapist, I would find it helpful to have a video of your child at home where she speaks freely. It is likely she won't participate well in the expressive portion of the language evaluation. It would really help to have an idea of how she communicates at home.

Good luck! Feel free to email me if you have further questions.