Selective Mute Student?

amother

Ecru ↓

Sun, May 27 2018, 9:00 pm

Hi fellow teachers,

I am currently doing a research project for college on selective mutism.
I am conducting research on various methods of intervention, and I would like to include experiences of other teachers.

If you have or have had a selective mute student in the past, and you have a few minutes, it would really help me if you can please answer these questions to help my research... if you have had more than one selective mute student, I would love to hear about your varied experiences with each student....

Thank you in advance for your time!!

anon cuz I don't know if my professor or classmates are on here Smile

questions:

1.How old is/was your student?

2. Did your student have a diagnosis before the school year started, or is it something you discovered?

3. Please describe the settings in which your student felt comfortable speaking, and who the child would and would not speak to:
(ex: home but not school... spoke to peers but not teacher ... spoke to teacher but not peers... spoke in the classroom but not the gym, etc...)

4. Did your student express him/herself non-verbally? how?

5. Did you find ways to connect to this child despite their SM while they were still non-verbal?

6. Were the parents concerned or did they feel it would resolve itself? What was the parents' opinion on intervention? (pro or anti?) Did they offer suggestions?

7. Did you try any interventions? Please describe any programs or methods you used:

8. Did your school encourage or guide intervention?

9. Did your selective mute student overcome this challenge and begin speaking while in your class? If yes, when?

10. If your selective mute student did overcome this challenge, do you feel it was a direct result of your intervention?

11. Are you satisfied with your efforts to help this child?

12. Additional thoughts:

Thanks again!! I know this is time consuming!

amother

Pearl

Mon, May 28 2018, 1:36 am

I was selective mute as a child. The worst thing you can do is that the child should know that you are trying to make her/him talk. That puts a pressure on the child and it's so hard to start talking then. Don't try to coax the child to talk. Just act as if you didn't realize that he or she doesn't talk. And don't act excited if the child talks...there are certain games some people try to play with the kids to get them to talk. Like bringing mikes to school and letting the kids experiment with it. Or parrot toys that repeat what you talk.