Selective Mutism Advice Wanted

Dear B.,

Please call me...I have dealt with this issue before, with great success. It's a little bit involved to type it all out here.

J. Fendelman, MC
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PS~Don't let any doctors drug her for it

Hi B., my name is G.. I know nothing of your daughters condition, but have two children with severe speach problems. They have a awsome speech therapist at their school. Even though your daughter doesnt attend the school, she is great and would proably be very helpful on telling you alot of ways to help your daughter, and what is expected of the school that she attends. We attended Mesa school for a year, and they never even mentioned my daughters severe speach problem. We switched to a Gilbert school and she has made alot of progress in 4 years. The Speach teachers name is Ms. Kennedy and the school number is ###-###-####. I hope this was helpful and God bless you and your daughter!

I don't know anything about this, but here is a website, you may know about this already:
www.selectivemutism.org. There is a ton of information on this and frequently asked questions too.

Hope that helps,
K.

The best advice I can give you is to get on the internet and read read read. My son had it before it even had a name.THIS IS NOT A SPEECH DISORDER! It is an ANXIETY DISORDER and you need to get on top of it as soon as possible.

Here is a link that describes it, but there is a lot of info out there. Wish I had known then what I know now. D.

www.asha.org/about/publications/leader-online/archives/20...

My son has received speech services through the public school system since he was 3.5 years old. I obtained the information from our pediatrician. I wish I knew the number I called, but unfortunately I don't. You can probably call the district office and they can connect you with the correct department.

I do want to say that keeping your daughter involved in various types of activities will help her to become more confident in herself. My son was in his second year of preschool when half way through the year his teacher exclaimed, "We were so excited, Blake finally talked today!" What???? He hadn't been talking at school??? I had no clue!! I knew he was shy, but I thought he was at least conversing with his peers. I continued to ask the teacher throughout the year how he was doing and she would always say, "Great!" I was led to believe that he was still talking at school and he still wasn't! He ended the school year and had probably said ten words all year!!! To make a long story short, in the summer we put him in baseball and his confidence began to emerge. We put him into kindergarten early to get him used to going, as he too, just turned five. He has many friends, converses with them and has really come out of his shell. He played soccer this fall and was the star player. He made many friends and conversed with most of them. He still chooses who he will talk to and who he won't but he has come a long way! I encourage you to get her involved in other activities and build up her self esteem in areas that interest her. Still look into getting her help from your school district, but continue to do other activities as well. Be sure to not label her, especially in front of her, because that will only crush her self esteem and make her more introverted.

If you don't have insurance, do you qualify for ACCHS? (sorry if I "spelled" it wrong), the state's help for low income people without insurance?

Also, contact the DDD - something like Developmental Disabilities Dept. It is a state agency.

Contact the school district and ask for the person in charge of the Exceptional Children or Exceptional Student area. Call Dr. Kessler's office at St. Joe's. There is a person who answers the phones there who is VERY knowledgeable and helpful for resources.

Hope some of this helps you. In your shoes, I would do all of them.