lgold@efn.org To Home Page MUTISM, ELECTIVE MUTISM, SELECTIVE MUTISM By Svea Gold
(Names of the children are altered.)
Without Samuel the term elective mutism would have had only a fleeting interest for me. What I knew about it came from a fascinating chapter on the subject in book " Reflexes, Learning and Behavior "
And then came Samuel, five-year-old twin boy of one of my friends. For a whole year Samuel never opened his mouth in pre-school. If the teacher tried to find out if he had learned what she had tried to teach, there was no reaction. The parents did not particularly worry about this, because when he came home, Samuel would cheerfully tell his mother everything that went on in class, and showed her what he had learned. Obviously, Samuel was not stupid!
Then came kindergarten. The twins were placed into different classrooms, because otherwise the boy twin would usually follow whatever his sister told him to do. Thus, when the two were separated, it became obvious that there was a huge difference in their behavior. The little girl took an active part in class, and played with others during recess. Samuel never talked in class and in the schoolyard just stood motionless on the sidelines.
At this point the parents finally asked me to look at the children. As the parents watched, I did the | |
|
