My daughter was diagnosed with selective mutism.?

Question

We have an appointment with a Dr. in Pa at the SMart Center. This is very expensive but has a 95% cure rate. Does anyone have any experience with other physicians/ treatment?

Answer 1

No, but I just read an article in the latest Readers Digest.  There was some good info in there.  I suggest you go out and buy it or look on their website.

Answer 2

I don't have any experience with specific doctors, but I work with children with severe behavior problems, and one of the clients I work with is a 10 year old boy with selective mutism.  It is an anxiety based disorder, where the child goes mute because of the anxiety he/she faces when there is an expectation to speak.  I would say if you have an appointment with him, you're on the right track.  Make sure you follow all the recommendations of the doctor, even if something doesn't make sense to you.  Ask questions, find out why certain interventions works, and try what they recommend CONSISTENTLY!  Just like you can't change a behavior if you only do it some of the time, you can't help her change her behavior unless you are 100% consistent with the recommendations.

Answer 3

hi -- we saw a local child psychiatrist for our daughter but i think she was more helpful for reassuring me that i wasn't doing anything wrong than anything else.  you will find people who don't know anything about selective mutism telling you that you need to be more firm about forcing kids to speak, but the general medical opinion is the opposite ... that since it's an anxiety disorder the first thing you have to do is decrease pressure to speak and make sure they're just feeling comfortable, after which you can start a system of rewards for (very small) progress -- like whispering "bye" the same time you do, for example.  some kids do end up needing medication and it works wonders for many kids, though we didn't end up having to go that route.  will your daughter sing? the first place my daughter actually talked to someone other than family was at a Music Together class, because she didn't mind singing, and she eventually got so comfortable using her voice at the music class for singing that she actually talked to another kid there.  it might have been just a quirky thing for her, but you might consider trying it if you think your daughter might sing even if she doesn't talk.

there are also some good books about selective mutism that you can use for reference when evaluating what the doctor wants to do.  can't think of titles off hand, but do a search on amazon under "selective mutism" and you'll find a few.

wish you the best of luck.

edit -- just realized i should add there's a yahoo group on selective mutism ... you might have better luck posting sm related questions there.  go to www.groups.yahoo.com and search on selective mutism.