Selective Mutism in Adolescents As the makeup of students in classrooms change and general education teachers are educating a range of students with diverse needs, new learning barriers are becoming prominent in American classrooms. One of these learning disabilities that is emerging is a language disorder called selective mutism. Selective mutism is defined as a language disorder in which individuals who exhibit normal language skills with no delays in daily home situations are unwilling or unable to speak when confronted with novel situations or people. This disorder, when presented in classrooms, can affect both the social and the academic progress of the student. When considering students who exhibit symptoms of selective mutism, …show more content…
Psychodynamic theorists believe that selective mutism is a choice made by the child to have power over a certain part of their life. This could be a way for the child to assert control in response to a fight with a parent. These theorists believe that children with selective mutism chose not to speak in public to maintain their power, despite having the ability to speak. Researches emphasize the idea that children often continue this relationship with new individuals who can remove this power, such as a new teacher. Differing from psychodynamic theorists, behaviorists believe that children have been taught to use silence to help control the anxiety that they might feel. For example, if a child is uncomfortable in a certain situation, chooses not to speak, and has reduced anxiety, they have learned that silence is an effective tool (Busse & Downey, 2011). . Selective mutism was first diagnosed by Adolf Kussmaul in the 1800s. The named it aphasia voluntaria to emphasize the idea that individuals made a voluntary decision to maintain silence (Busse & Downey, 2011). In time, this original name became “elective mutism”. This new name reflected that the individual chose the environment in which they would speak. Once again, the name of the disorder was changed to become “selective mutism”. The current name of the disorder shows that the individual’s ability to speak is not about choice, but about
Reason for concern is set at just one month. Winnie’s lack of communication is not due to another communication disorder because there is evidence that she can make new friends. She is even described as talkative by family friends. She knows how and is able to communicate, but she is not comfortable reaching out in the school
In the article “Over the Brink of the Millennium”, the author discussed language-based learning disabilities. While I did learn a lot about the disorder, I was familiar with how the disorder causes problems attention, memory, comprehension, literacy, writing, and spelling, to name a few. Persons with language-based learning disabilities often struggle with school, fear reading, and writing. I knew some of the symptoms and signs of someone with a language-based learning disability.
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
Biological Perspective In a biological perspective, a psychologist would view alcoholism as something problematic. It's high side effects can often affect our moods and certain urges. However, because our brains have various ways of coping; being in an intoxicated stage can be different for everyone, some people may experience sadness, others may experience rage and anger, or pure bliss and happiness. Furthermore, genetics can play a significant role in alcoholism.
Hesselman coined the term “selective mutism” in 1983 to describe the disorder previously called “aphasia voluntaria, elective mutism, speech phobia, psychological mutism, and hearing mute” among fourteen other historic terms (Dow, Freeman, Garcia, Leonard, & Miller, 2004; Kearney, 2010). The American Psychiatric Association, or APA, characterizes selective mutism by a “persistent failure to speak in specific social situations where speech is expected, despite speaking in other situations.” Selective mutism shifted in recent years from being viewed as a response to trauma sustained early in life to a manifestation of an anxiety disorder (Dow et al, 2004). This paper briefly covers all aspects of selective mutism from signs and symptoms to
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.
Do you know a child who can speak freely at home but appears frozen in other public places? Do you know a child who is so shy that they take a long time to become comfortable in social situations? Or sometimes not even become comfortable at all? I was that child. I was diagnosed with selective mutism at age five and it controls my life every day. Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder in which a person who is normally capable of speech does not speak in certain situations or to certain people. Selective mutism co-exists with shyness or social anxiety. For children, it can be painfully debilitating and can hinder their ability to advance in things such as school, making friends, and participating in activities. Children and adults with this disorder have an actual fear of speaking and of social interactions where there is an expectation to speak and communicate with others. These children are able to speak and communicate in settings where they are comfortable, feel secure, and relaxed.
When a child is unable to speak around certain people or in certain settings they may have an anxiety disorder called selective mutism. ("Parents Guide to Selective Mutism." Child Mind Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Jan. 2017. page 1) It is very common for kids with selective mutism to be very chatty at home with family and friends but then silent at school right every other public setting. Parents start noticing the size of selective mutism at around age 3 or four. Although of the disorder might not be diagnosed until he/she is school-aged, when their speech problems become more evident. Child with selective mutism could go a whole year in the classroom or other school setting without talking to the teacher, Students, or counselors. Usually kids with selective mutism are very well behaved and polite meaning they listen they just don't know how to communicate is someone there not comfortable with, so their silence can be misunderstood as shyness but is usually never addressed as a possible wall/barrier to their learning. According to the parent’s guide to select mutism from the child mind Institute selective mutism can cause significant impairment in a child's life. It can interfere with kid’s performances at school, both academically and
The cause of selective mutism differs on the case of the person. Selective mutism is hard to categorize because so many cases are different each having their own cause and effect. Many would say that the children with SM are stubborn and choosing not to speak. The reality of it is that these children really do want to have friends and to be active in the classroom but themselves won't let them. Their parents usually just think it’s shyness and sometimes punish the child for not talking or being social. The children can’t help it and it’s sad to think that not a lot of people know about this disorder because many children suffer with it. They
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,
There are multiple criteria that come into play when determining a psychological disorder. One reason is because, it is hard to know for sure if an action is abnormal or not. Something could be abnormal in our country, but a custom in another.
This perspective involves examining the physical aspects that affect a living thing’s behavior such as the brain, nervous system, and genetics.
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) is commonly known as a childhood syndrome characterized by impulsiveness, hyperactivity, and a short attention span. These often lead to learning disabilities and various behavioral problems. ADD is defined as an inability to control behavior due to difficulty in processing neural stimuli.
Selective mutism is a mental disorder that typically occurs in children or adolescents. This disorder is categorized by children being silent in some settings, mainly social situations, but are able to talk and are freely able to do so in some situations. Selective mutism is a diagnosis and is credited, but there has not been many studies on it. The term “electiver mutismus” was first used in 1877, and was used from then on by some people to discuss people who were extremely shy. In 1963, 4 cases out of 2000 children, were described as having elective mutism. The 4 children were of normal intelligence, had no psychosocial trauma, and seemed as if they would have a positive outcome in the next ten years. There are not many papers published on
Selective mutism psychological disorder that is a lack of ability to speak or interconnect with people .Usually appearing Pre-K students between 3 and 5 years when they go to school . Mostly, parents understand their kids SM (selective mutism) when they go to school because SM kids generally they are fine with their family, however, they can’t speak in certain situations such as in the classroom.