Selective Mutism In Early Childhood Education

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

Qualitative method is using open-ended questioning, non-statistical research techniques, or value-based observations. In this research, three main methodologies are adopted as focus group, distributing questionnaires and conducting personal interviews simultaneously. Methods are all appropriate and contributed to a comprehensive research. The reason is that aim of this research is to acquire an in-depth understanding of

This study was a quantitative study using and exploratory, descriptive design to explore the role of the school psychologists, their involvement, knowledge and training regarding the Selective Mutism child. The study’s purpose was to measure how much knowledge the school psychologists had regarding intervention used when an SM child was identified. The research questions developed (Ellis, 2015):

Proposed research methods are focus group and internet survey. The focus group method would enable researchers to collect multiple opinion about influence factors from candidates. On the other hand, the internet survey method could reach a large group of respondents cost-effectively and would be especially suitable to young adults as they spends the most time

The type of data the author collected were questionnaires that were given to the participants of the study to obtain demographic data on each participant’s age, race, marital status, education, and their knowledge of the

Although the class has not had input into the methodology used to collect the data for this report it is still important for us to know why these methods were used. Questionnaires can be useful in order to get opinions and views from a large groups of people (McLeod 2014), such like conditions for the research for this reports. This can be useful as this can be an easier way of targeting a larger audience other than in interview purposes. This will also be more time consuming as everyone is answering the same questions.

However there is good news and that is that with the right help and the right amount of time and effort kids with selective mutism get better.

My proposed area of study for my dissertation is to look at and explore the phenomenon of Selective Mutism as it appears in children. I will specifically be examining the symptoms of this behavior utilizing a variety of cognitive and behavioral theories. Contemporary forms of treatment for SM will also be researched in my dissertation. Through the totality of my research I will be able to draw conclusions and report my findings to the psychological community. These findings will provide insight on how to detect, diagnose, and treat this rare, but serious condition.

“Problems researched with the use of appropriate methods greatly enhance the value of the research.” (Sekaran, 2003) Data can be collected through interviews, questionnaires, observations, and through other techniques, like projective tests. In even more detail, interviews can be conducted in a variety of different ways such as over the phone, through the computer, interviews through the electronic media, and face-to-face. Questionnaires can be conducted personally or administered electronically. “Interviewing, administering questionnaires, and observing people and phenomena are the three main data collection methods in survey research.” (Sekaran, 2003) As stated before, data can be collected in many different ways; however the value of the research is only greatly enhanced when personal opinions and bias is left out of the collection of data.

In order to effectively support the Selective Mutism child, there is a need to provide classroom support, along with, awareness of the disorder of parents, school psychologist and teahers Through training programs. Selective Mutsim children refuse to verbally participate with the teacher and peers in the classroom. Consequently, when teachers try to interact with the SM child difficulties for the teacher and child arise. In fact, not only does the disorder make it difficult for child as well as the teacher, but it affects the SM child’s peer interactions, academic progress and prevent teachers from educatining the SM child. Furthermore, the SM child does not have a language comprehension problem and communicates in the home in a normal fashion(Laimbock,

In this case, the student SLT would liaise with an educational psychologist who could aid with implications (Johnson and Wintgens, 2001) selective mutism may have on JM at nursery and at school in the future.

The demographics questionnaire was designed specifically for this research. The following nine items were included:

Social justice can be applied in all the expressive therapies, but I want to focus on how it can be applied for psychodrama with selectively mute children. I choose this topic because I am very interested in this research and I feel as though we did not get to go into detail about this topic in class. In our readings, there were a few sections that mentioned this client population, but I wanted to do more research to see if the expressive arts would be a good fit for the beginning stages of getting to know these clients. I am currently being trained in working with selectively mute children in my internship. The training is coming for a cognitive-behavioral model, but there are components

Assessment tools such as the Selective Mutism Questionnaire (SMQ) and the Social Anxiety Scale for Children-Revised, can be completed by caregivers to garner information on their child’s level of communication and anxiety (Busse & Downy, 2011). By completing the assessments, suggestions for treatment can take place. In addition to questionnaires, a functional analysis of SM generally involves interviews, behavioral observations and daily logs (Kearney & Vechhio, 2006). Looking at SM in a school setting, it can interfere with a child’s ability to interact with other students and have an active voice within the classroom. SM not only hinders a child’s social interaction and growth, but it delays the development of appropriate oral reading and

In survey method research, participants answer questions administered through interviews or questionnaires. After participants answer the questions, researchers describe the responses given. In order for the survey to be both reliable and valid it is important that the questions are constructed properly. Questions should be written so they are clear and easy to comprehend.