Do i have selective mutism quiz

What is selective mutism and how to treat it - Knife

Little is known about selective mutism. This is a selective refusal of speech in children who, as a rule, do not use speech skills outside the home, and especially in educational institutions. At the same time, sometimes such children can communicate with the help of mean gestures, monosyllabic answers to questions and whispers. In Russia, as in many other countries, there is neither a clear diagnostic system, nor special treatment methods, nor doctors dealing with this problem separately. We talked about it with mothers whose children have selective mutism, as well as with British therapist Lucy Nathanson, who specializes in this disease.

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According to the Moscow Institute of Correctional Pedagogy, this disorder occurs in 1% of children, more often in girls.

“Selective mutism (SM) is a separate diagnosis, it is included in ICD-10 and ICD-11. As a rule, the appearance of SM is preceded by other disorders of speech development, - says the head of the Center for Behavioral Neurology of the Institute of the Human Brain named after N.P. Bekhtereva Leonid Chutko. - Anxiety, which is noted in 75% of children with SM, plays a large role in the genesis of the disease. There is no specific therapy. In our country, nootropics and anti-anxiety drugs are usually used in conjunction with cognitive behavioral therapy, art therapy and family psychotherapy.”

According to experts, the most important thing is to create a comfortable psychological atmosphere for the child in which he would feel safe and be able to realize his potential: you need to find an activity for the child, motivate him and praise him for his achievements.

Until my daughter was three years old, I did not notice any oddities in her. She developed like all children at her age and communicated with all family members. But a month after Adriana started going to kindergarten, a children's speech therapist called us and said that her daughter was talking to only one girl in the group. Then I did not take her advice to take my daughter to a neurologist seriously, deciding that Adriana was just embarrassed, that she would “outgrow it”.

Friends advised us to consult online with Maria Ignatova from Krasnodar. It was she who first made the assumption that her daughter had selective mutism and referred us to a psychiatrist. She also recommended involving Adrian in your affairs, taking her with you to visit or to dance classes - that is, to include her in society as much as possible. And also find a community of parents of mulatto children on the Internet (Adriana's father is from Africa. - Ed.) and arrange acquaintances for children. On her advice, I made friends with several parents in kindergarten, explained the situation to them and began to invite them to visit us with the children. Later, I made information leaflets about selective mutism, and now, when I come with a child to a clinic or a children's club, I distribute printouts to everyone - I work ahead of the curve.

After a consultation with a psychiatrist, for the first time I thought that the problem could be hereditary and called Adriana's father. When we met, he seemed rather shy, but he had no obvious communication problems. When he learned about his daughter's diagnosis, he was not too surprised. “In childhood, I wasn’t just talking, I was afraid to eat in front of people,” he told me. The psychiatrist prescribed drug therapy combined with psychotherapy for her daughter. But the drug she prescribed is allowed in Russia only from the age of six. Therefore, for now, we do without it.

Recently, Adriana began to go to sand therapy, it discharges her emotionally very much: she tells me with pleasure what she did in the class, and at the same time she became somehow calmer. But in the team, she still practically does not communicate with anyone. We had to change kindergarten, and Adriana behaves even more closed there: her shoulders even tighten with excitement when she enters the classroom. We were sent to the pedagogical commission, and just imagine: a speech therapist, a child psychologist and a kindergarten head are sitting, and I tell them what selective mutism is. They have never heard of such a thing!

Adriana never spoke to the speech therapist - she had to show the video with her daughter so that she could draw some conclusions. After that, the speech therapist said: “Your daughter does not have a pronunciation disorder, so I can neither give you a referral to a speech therapy garden, nor put a ZPR. We have such children, but they study according to the usual program. And homework is sent in video format.” Unfortunately, we have very little information about selective mutism, and it is mostly outdated, so I have to translate foreign articles myself.

Experts either think it will go away on its own or diagnose it as developmental delay. When I started running a group on VKontakte and met other parents of such children, I learned how selective mutism manifests itself in different ways.

Adriana, for example, talks to me at home and on the street, and when she enters an unfamiliar place, she immediately falls silent. Someone, on the contrary, communicates in kindergarten, and speech is turned off at home. Drugs help some children, and there is progress in a couple of months, while others do not start talking until they are eight years old. So everything is very individual here. Now I am planning a meeting with families where there are children with selective mutism. I would like to see how they interact with each other.

* Part of the Meta company, which is recognized as an extremist organization and banned on the territory of the Russian Federation.

I have two children. The eldest son Artem suffers from selective mutism. For a long time, we did not suspect this diagnosis - at home, the son communicated with us quite normally, clearly expressed his thoughts. Of course, he was always a reserved, anxious child, he had few friends in kindergarten. But we thought that we were growing an introvert, there were no particular concerns. When Artem was five years old, we transferred him to a correctional eye kindergarten, and then the situation worsened. Perhaps stress also affected - we had a daughter. Experts said that this is a common story - after the birth of the youngest child, the older child is given less attention, he feels abandoned, and begins to behave worse.

The teachers began to complain that Artyom did not play with other children, did not draw or do crafts with everyone else. When I asked if they were trying to involve the child in some kind of activity, they answered that they would not persuade Artyom, since he was already an adult. At home, the son said that everyone in the kindergarten was evil. It got to the point that he begged not to take him to the garden, fell asleep badly.

When the pandemic started, I sat at home with my children for six months. And then it was time to enroll my youngest daughter in kindergarten, and I decided to take Artyom too. Moreover, child psychologists told me that he cannot be isolated, he needs to communicate with other children. And in the new kindergarten - the most ordinary one, with a group of twenty-five people - we were lucky to have a teacher. She tried her best to "rock". For example, I took him by the hand and made him draw with her. And he gradually got involved.

One winter, Artyom fell while walking and cut his cheek on the ice. Blood flows, but he is silent, does not make a sound, only tears flow down his cheeks. After this incident, the teacher advised us to go to a specialist in kindergarten No. 53. They work with autistic children and give free consultations. The neurologist did an encephalogram and said that there were no neurological problems. We went to the psychiatrist, he prescribed a light antidepressant sertraline. The result was not long in coming - my son's anxiety disappeared, he began to sleep better. In kindergarten, Artyom began to actively gesticulate - it became easier for teachers and children to understand him. A month later, he was already making some sounds. Then he spoke in a whisper, in the ear of the children he liked. The psychologist advised me to motivate my son to speak.

I drew and explained to my son: “It’s you, here you come to the garden and greet the teacher”, etc. I also create social situations myself to involve my son in a conversation: we go to the store, I give him money and I ask you to buy something yourself. Progress is slow, but there is. Although, for now, Artyom flatly refuses to talk to caregivers and doctors.

When I started looking for information about selective mutism, I came across posts on social networks written by teenagers with this problem. It turned out that even if the child was cured, the disease can "catch up" with him at an older age.

I have been dealing with selective mutism for many years. Now I have a small team of specialists working with me. About twenty families from all over the world contact us every week. The geography is extensive: USA, Australia, China, Poland. We have already helped hundreds of such families. I suspect that there are many more children with selective mutism in Russia than the statistics show. Some time ago in the UK, things were similar - such children were at best considered very shy or silent, and sometimes they were diagnosed with autism. And there is still a myth about what not to say is the choice of the child himself. Another myth is that the problem of SM is necessarily genetic or arises due to a bad psychological situation in the family. But this is far from always the case.

SM is more common in children prone to anxiety. For example, a child is afraid to move away from his mother and play on the playground. Then his mother takes him to a kindergarten and leaves him alone with a large number of unfamiliar children and adults who want something from him and ask questions. And he is so frightened that the vocal cords spasm - the child simply physically cannot speak. But this problem can be solved if a good specialist starts working with the child.

For example, in addition to online consultations, I provide direct therapy and intensive therapy. In the first case, I spend two days with the family: I communicate with the child and with the parents, I watch how the child behaves at home. Then I go to the store with him and try to involve him in the shopping process: we choose what to buy, discuss this or that product, start talking with consultants, the cashier. Everything should happen as naturally as possible and imperceptibly for the child. This technique is called exposure - that is, I create a social situation outside the home and open up the opportunity for the child to communicate with the outside world. During intensive care, I spend a whole week with the child.

Since I have already established contact with the child by this time, it turns out that the educator does not intrude into the child's space, but we ourselves ask him to do so. And gradually the child "accepts" the teacher and starts talking to him. Of course, sometimes you have to persuade the leaders of the educational institution to give us such an opportunity. Usually, after an intensive session, I continue to keep in touch with my family - and I want to note that there is always progress in one way or another. Of course, all children are different and some may need more time. As a rule, this is due to the presence of additional diagnoses in the child.

I once had therapy with a girl who, in addition to SM, had autism and pathological demand avoidance. She refused many of my proposals and generally resisted communicating with me in every possible way. I had to invent new ways of interaction. For example, I told her: "You are in charge here, so you will choose what we will do today." This is the turn she didn't expect!

On average, a week-long therapy session is enough for a child to start talking at least a little. By the way, drug therapy is not used in the treatment of selective mutism in the UK. The problem is solved exclusively by behavioral therapy. It is also very important to correctly tell your environment that your child has selective mutism. I have written several books about this problem, they are small in size and written in an accessible language - so that the grandmother of the child, and the kindergarten teacher, and even the child from the group could understand what selective mutism is and how to communicate with such a child.

• VKontakte community dedicated to selective mutism;
• UK SM website recommended by Lucy Nathanson;
• Lucy Nathanson's YouTube channel about SM.

Selective mutism: don't be afraid, you need to know how to help the child

All young parents are impatiently waiting for their child to start talking. And now the kid says the first word, then a sentence, then he chats incessantly. But he does this only at home, and is silent in kindergarten and on the playground. What to do? Our blogger, psychologist Lyubov Moshinskaya-Brumberg tells.

Your child speaks well. He chats with you incessantly, recites poetry, sings songs, tells you different things - about the creation of the world, about the Egyptian pyramids, about penguins and crocodiles. But here's the trouble - he doesn't talk in the garden: neither with the teacher, nor with the children. Not in Russian, not in Hebrew, not in Japanese. He does not talk to the children on the playground and to their grandmothers, who certainly want to know his name. He falls silent when friends come to you. And often you are hinted (or directly told) that he has a speech delay. But you know what he says - and better than many.

This disorder has a name - selective mutism. In translation, it means selective dumbness. In other words, the child's speech is developed normally, but he does not speak with everyone. Anxiety is at the root of this disorder. As a rule, one cannot do without a specialist. But in order to successfully fight this phenomenon, it is necessary to work not only in therapy, but also to cooperate with family and school.

You parents can do a lot to make the child calm and anxiety disappear:

1. Do not worry

First of all, be calm about the fact that not everywhere the child can speak. Your calmness is transferred to the child. And vice versa: when you worry, the child feels your anxiety, and closes even more. You should not be worried about what the mother will say at the playground, to which your child did not answer what his name is.

2. Encourage the child's efforts

Tell the child that it is normal for him to sometimes find it difficult to speak. Just as normal as a child who is afraid of the dark or bad at cycling. Gradually he will overcome these difficulties. And even for small attempts to overcome, he deserves praise. At the same time, it is important to praise not the result (he fell off the bike), but the efforts put into the matter (“you try to learn, despite the difficulties!”).

3. Educate others

Remember that people often do not know what selective mutism is. For example, a kindergarten teacher, teachers at school, relatives who visited you, or the same mothers on the playground try to force the child to speak or make comments to him. This makes it even more difficult for the child. Explain to them what is happening and how to behave with the child. It is very useful to have a conversation with the children in the class and with their parents (in the absence of a child) and explain to them what this violation is.

4. Remember that you have many reasons to be proud of your child

I'm sure you have many reasons to be proud of your child. Maybe he draws well, manages quickly with Lego, sings, runs, somersaults. After all, verbal communication is just a small part of his abilities. It is worth sharing with others what the child can do well. You can even (with the permission of the child) show them the products of his work (drawings, or origami, or plasticine figures). Then the child will feel that you are proud of him, that he is capable and that there are many reasons to praise him.

Of course, parents can help their child in many ways. Now we talked about support, about keeping the child "afloat", not letting him go deeper into anxiety. How can you help him overcome his anxiety? How can you help him move forward? How can I help him make friends? How to establish his connection with friends and relatives? I will talk about this in the next text.

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