nickcut

Wow! My daughter (6) has Selective Mutism. We didn't find out there was a problem until her teachers at her preschool told us that she had never said a word at school. She was barely 4 then, and we've been trying to get her help ever since. Of course, at the time we didn't know what it was, and tried speech therapists (it's not a speech issue) and a cognitive behavioral therapist (who our daughter adores but I don't think it's helping her condition). We're attending a workshop in July at FIU with a group that specializes in treatment (Brave Bunch) and we really hope that helps.

My question is, what was the most effective form of therapy for you? Did you try medications such as prozac or zoloft (I've heard kids with SM greatly benefit from this)?

I'm glad to see that someone else thinks that. When I think of this series that line pops into my head. That and Rust's pronunciation of "Reggie Ledoux".

It's definitely "a thing", albeit rare. The last statistic I read was that 3 out of every 10,000 kids have it. My daughter has it. She can not talk in front of certain people. It's like a switch... she'll talk/laugh/scream/sneeze/cough at home like a typical child, but if one of the neighborhood kids comes over to play she'll zip up and not make a peep. She can't help it. I feel so sorry for her. We've tried and tried to coax her to say something and she really wants to, but it just doesn't happen. She literally/physically can not speak in those situations.