Analysis Of Selective Mutism

Another social and communication disorder is Asperger syndrome, this is characterised by the following; the individual may have difficulties in social interactions, a restricted range of interests, repetitive behaviours and also they may have a delay in motor development. This may be shown in the individual 's clumsiness or uncoordinated movements, however, those with Asperger 's syndrome don’t have significant delays in both language and cognitive development. There are a number of different symptoms of Asperger 's yet it is unlikely that they would all be present in one person. Each

A key factor to most of the maladaptive behavior performed by individuals is the inability to get a message across for their wants and needs through language. A few of my clients were non-speaking when I first met them. Their way of communicating was by whining or directing their caregiver to the item he or she needed. Consequently, many of the client’s goals were focused on increasing communicative language. I was fortunate enough to be able to attend speech therapy with one of my clients. Being present in these therapies, I was able to learn certain techniques to increase language, as well as techniques for phonetics, to be able to understand the existing language the client had. On days the client did not have speech therapy, I implemented the programs into the in-home therapies to increase the exposure, in hopes for better results. I also utilized the skills I learned on the other non-speaking clients I worked with but, modified their usage to adapt to the necessity of each

Speech, language and communication difficulties can have a profound and lasting effect on children’s lives and development. These can affect their ability to communicate and interact with others. The impact of these difficulties will vary depending on the severity of the problems, the support they receive, the demands of the child’s environment

While Reading the book, Lost at School, written by Ross W. Greene, one can appreciate the clear focus and overall direction for teaching different students with maladaptive behaviors. For teachers, those children present the greatest obstacle in education. A student’s mental health problems allude to the challenges in teaching. It’s hard enough to keep a large group of adolescents on task in the first place, let alone when there may be one or more children with maladaptive behaviors in a single class, who have a hard time regulating their focus levels like the typical student. The number of disruptive students has seemingly increased through the years. Now studies show that, “About 10 percent of the school population—9 to 13 million children—struggle with mental health problems. In a typical classroom of 20, chances are good that one or two students are dealing with serious psychosocial stressors relating to poverty, domestic violence, abuse and neglect, trauma, or a psychiatric disorder. These children represent the most challenging students in our classrooms today.” (Rappaport and Minahan) To combat those alarming statistics, Ross Greene’s informational book talks about how to improve a child’s behavior, while embracing the patience it takes to effectively communicate with such children.

Most children are diagnosed during the first years of schooling, when the child’s teacher is usually the first to bring concerns to the parents/caregivers and the school administration. Often it is not until children enter school and there is an expectation to perform, interact and speak, that selective mutism becomes more obvious. Moreover, when school starts, children also experience difficulties

Implementing interventions that includes hiring a school social worker to provide the needed support for those students struggling to meet the academic requirements may contribute to having less disruptive behaviors in the school. The overall program goal for male students attending RMMS is to decrease suspensions and expulsions, while promoting different disciplinary approaches to boost their academics success and

Communication is vital in life, whether it be from simply having a conversation with someone or trying to understand what they are saying and if a person has a speech disorder, that can make life very complicated. Children with speech disorders may have trouble producing sounds to use spoken language to communicate with people and may have trouble understanding what people are trying to say. Children with speech disorders may have problems with vocal quality, articulation, fluency, hearing, and intellectual abilities. Those difficulties that children may face due to speech disorders can potentially cause setbacks in their everyday life which is why Midlands Therapy Services tries to help children reach their full potential. Midlands Therapy

Most parents fail to recognize their child’s disorder until early kindergarten years and contribute the lack of speech prior to entering school as shyness or fear. The average age of onset for selective mutism occurs between three and five years (Beidel & Turner,

How will you understand why I do not speak, If you don’t figure out why I am silent (Marriott, 2013)? I love this quote by Marriott because it describes so accurately Inquiry by teachers. This inquiry concerns a disorder that is not widely known. Previously thought to be rare with a low prevalence rate, research shows that close to 76% of children are selectively mute (Elizur and Perednik, 2003). Selective Mutism (SM) is an anxiety disorder that affects children and adults causing them to withdraw from interacting with others, especially in large groups. Because of this disorder, children with Selective Mutism fail to respond and participate in class. In addition, selectively mute children are placed incorrectly into special education classes, classified as teaching disabled, autistic and diagnosed as other disorders due to unawareness (Shipon-Blum, 2015). Unfortunately, many teachers and school counselors lack awareness of the disorder and, therefore, have little or no experience with implementing effective intervention or learning strategies (Kehle, Bray, Byer-alcorace,

To ensure that criterion E has been satisfied an understanding the differential diagnoses is imperative. Differential diagnosis can be understood as, “the distinguishing of a disease or condition from others presenting with similar signs or symptoms” (“Differential Diagnosis”). Selective Mutism has differential diagnoses under three domains, communication disorders; neurodevelopment disorders (including schizophrenia and similar disorders) and social anxiety disorder (American Psychiatric Association, 2013a). Understanding the differences in these diagnoses versus selective mutism benefits the client and ensures that they receive the correct treatment and care. Communication disorders are commonly misunderstood as both at face value deal with communication. However, it is important to recognize that communication disorders, such as social pragmatic disorders, language disorder, speech and sound disorders and childhood onset fluency disorder are characterized by an in ability to communicate, regardless of setting. This differs from selective mutism due to the disorder not presenting itself in all settings. Arguably if there were systemic difficulties with communication, such as vocabulary, syntax or stuttering were present these disabilities would be noticed prior to entering grade school and would be present in situations where selective mutism children are present speaking.

Thus, Melinda’s inability to speak allowed for her secondary diagnosis of selective mutism. The defining criteria of selective mutism is a “consistent failure to speak in specific social situations in which there is an expectation for speaking, such as at school, despite speaking in other situations” (DSM-V 195). While selective mutism involves a ‘failure’ to speak, the mutism is anxiety-driven and is therefore not a conscious choice by the sufferer, hence Melinda’s frustration: “it is getting harder to talk. My throat is always sore, my lips raw. Sometimes my mouth relaxes around Heather, if we’re alone. Every time I try to talk to my parents or a teacher, I sputter or freeze. What is wrong with me?” (Anderson 50). Melinda could hardly speak at school or home, but she spoke more freely around those she felt comfortable with. Additionally, selective mutism is not the result of another psychotic disorder or inadequate knowledge of the language, and symptoms must be present for at least one month (DSM-V 195). Like PTSD, selective mutism interferes with academic and social

Selective Mutism (SM) is a complex disorder, portrayed by the individual’s failure to communicate in the social environment and surroundings. However, as Harwood and Bork (2011) pointed out, the child's actions at home presented no symptoms of the disorder, and the child was a chatterbox at home. The American Psychiatric Association (2013) defined SM as a social phobia disorder. But owing to Doctor Shipon-Blum (2015) it was removed from classification Disorders Diagnosed in Infancy, Childhood, or Adolescence. Selective Mutism has now been re-classified as an anxiety disorder, but researchers still argued the classification was incorrect. Many theories have evolved to explain the etiology of Selective Mutism (SM), but the attempt to explain

Most kids are a little shy when it comes to meeting and talking to people that they don’t know for the first time, such as a teacher or perhaps a neighbor. This shyness usually goes away after a little time when they become more acquainted with that particular person. For some select few children they never get over this sense of fear at the prospect of having to communicate with someone who is not in their immediate family. This condition is called selective mutism, which is an anxiety disorder where a child is unable to speak and communicate effectively in social settings. There are different forms of therapy that are being used to try and retrain the way that the child acts and communicates when put into different settings than they may be used to. Whether it be private family

Communication is very crucial in life, especially in education. Whether it be delivering a message or receiving information, without the ability to communicate learning can be extremely difficult. Students with speech and language disorders may have “trouble producing speech sounds, using spoken language to communicate, or understanding what other people say” (Turkington, p10, 2003) Each of these problems can create major setbacks in the classroom. Articulation, expression and reception are all essential components for communication. If a student has an issue with articulation, they most likely then have difficulty speaking clearly and at a normal rate (Turkington, 2003). When they produce words, they

Moreover, the lack of proper treatment causes more manifested negative behavior due to the lack of therapy for the SM child (Krysanski, 2003). As of 2014, the only researcher addressing or investigating the teacher’s role in supporting an SM child is Omdal (2014). Due to the lack of teacher knowledge, and academic support, it is vital that more is learned about Selective Mutism in the environment of learning, so appropriate strategies are executed in the classroom (Krysanski, 2003; & Shippon-Blum, et al., 2015). There should be very few cultural factors that affect its implementation; however, there are two examples that need to be carefully watched when analyzing the data section on behavior. Human behavior encompasses how we communicate,