Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Extreme shyness vs. selective mutism

I wouldn't assume this. I was "painfully shy" as a kid, to the point of not being able to ask permission to go to the bathroom, and not only did I not outgrow it, but it became even more embarrassing and more limiting as I got older. Moot court in law school about did me in. I say get her help now.

My son was developmentally delayed, speech impaired and expressive language imparted as a young preschooler. All those labels were dropped later and at 8 got an Aspergers dx. So he qualified for In home speech therapy for about 6 months (fine one on one with the therapist not the gabbiest of kids but it was productive and play groups we were attending I would say spoke once or twice an hour to the other kids, so very quiet). Entered the ESE preschool program and didn't speak one single word from his enter date (February) to the end of school year. Needless to say speech therapy was a waste those 4 months. We were concerned but when school started in august again he participated and talked like he had never gone 4 months completely silent in school. I am glad there was summer break. Because I think he did want to talk and he needed a fresh restart in august. We would have been calling in experts if it had continued the next year.

My daughter had selective mutism in preschool and kindergarten. I took her to a psychiatrist and she was prescribed 15mg of Zoloft for anxiety (one pill cut into quarters). This amount of medicine is so small it basically metabolizes in a day. She was cured instantly. She stayed on Zoloft for 6 months then slowly cycled off. We tried speech therapy and went to a psychologist, but that was a waste of money. Today she is a bright happy confident 13 year old girl. She participates in class, gives presentations, and loves to debate.

Also, we are typically drug free, organic types. This was our last resort and it was incredibly successful. My heart aches for the pain she was in when the year I did nothing.

There is a moms blog called raisingsmartgirls, one of her daughters hand selective mutism. Lots of links and resources.