Selective Mutism

[Mary Ellen]

I've been reading the forum on and off over the last few months while I've been contemplating homeschooling my son and haven't seen any mention of selective mutism. Is there anyone homeschooling a child who's been diagnosed with it?

 

We have decided to go ahead and homeschool my son for 5th grade next year, as we've exhausted all our treatment options apart from medication and he's made absolutely no progress socially at school since 1st grade. He absolutely loves the academic side of school, so he's excited to be able to focus completely on that next year.

 

Thanks,

Mary Ellen

[Tokyomarie]

None of my children have selective mutism, but I do want to welcome you to the boards!

 

Would you like to share a little about your son's strengths and stuggles? Does he generally do well in academics across the board or does he have any difficulties with reading, writing, or math? Is he comfortable with a full range of oral language when speaking to family members or does he have family members with whom he doesn't speak? Does he have any peers/friends with whom he interacts one-on-one?

[Mary Ellen]

Thanks so much for the welcome, Marie.

 

Of course I'll share a little about him. :001_smile:

 

He does really well in all academic areas, especially reading and math. He reads all the time and writes stories occasionally, but math is definitely his favorite. Because he doesn't ask questions or ask for help at school, we've had to be more involved with his schoolwork than we are with our other children and I think it's actually helped him.

 

With our immediate family, my parents and my sister, he is completely comfortable and doesn't have any issues communicating. He's far from a chatterbox, but he does hold articulate conversations with us, asks questions, tells stories, argues with his brothers, etc. In very small groups where he knows everyone, he'll answer questions with a word or two, but doesn't initiate conversation. At school or in large groups, he freezes up completely.

 

He does have two friends who go to his school and play on his baseball team. My husband coaches, so he's kept these boys on his team for 3 years now. He gets along great with them and the boys seem to really like him, but he's still not speaking comfortably around them.

 

Thanks again, Marie. :001_smile:

 

Mary Ellen

[pdalley]

My youngest was diagnosed with it last year. We tried various interventions and finally resorted to a very small amount of Zoloft at night. (1/4 of a 25 mg pill).

 

But he has been home schooled since PreK. It didn't really get bad until he turned 8. What I did when he had limited verbal language was to have him point or click or type it out. It's pretty easy to adapt curriculum so they don't have to respond verbally I've found.

 

My youngest also loves math though he's been reading since he was very small. I've finally - after too many years IMO - zeroed in on things that work for him.

 

 

Math - Life of Fred and Teaching Textbooks. We're also starting Beast Academy (he saw the samples and begged me for them - he loves shapes). I read the chapter in Life of Fred and then he writes the answers or types them. Teaching Textbooks is on the computer and he can move at his own pace.

 

History/Science - Right now he's finishing a State Study in history and we used mostly note booking and videos. He loves Apologia Elementary Science - we skip the narration orally though he does write/type it out.

 

Growing With Grammar/Soaring With Spelling/Winning With Writing. He is a very fact based workbook loving kid when it comes to those subjects. I also use IEW.

 

Christian Light Education Reading program. It has short passages and he likes the light units - not as much text and can be broken down in small parts.

 

Hope this helps some. His selective mutism was had to deal with in every other setting but homeschool. Since he is on the spectrum it was theorized by his Dr and therapist that that was the way his anxiety manifested itself. He would look like a deer in the headlights when expected to speak.

[momsuz123]

One of my great friends had a dd that was dx with those in first grade. They were really torn about doing meds, because her dh is a doctor. They decided to go ahead and do it, and she was only on a small dose for about 8 months. By the end of the 8 months she was doing great. Now, she is in 5th grade, and has no issues at all without. Good luck, hope this helps some.

[Mary Ellen]

My youngest was diagnosed with it last year. We tried various interventions and finally resorted to a very small amount of Zoloft at night. (1/4 of a 25 mg pill).

 

But he has been home schooled since PreK. It didn't really get bad until he turned 8. What I did when he had limited verbal language was to have him point or click or type it out. It's pretty easy to adapt curriculum so they don't have to respond verbally I've found.

 

My youngest also loves math though he's been reading since he was very small. I've finally - after too many years IMO - zeroed in on things that work for him.

 

 

Math - Life of Fred and Teaching Textbooks. We're also starting Beast Academy (he saw the samples and begged me for them - he loves shapes). I read the chapter in Life of Fred and then he writes the answers or types them. Teaching Textbooks is on the computer and he can move at his own pace.

 

History/Science - Right now he's finishing a State Study in history and we used mostly note booking and videos. He loves Apologia Elementary Science - we skip the narration orally though he does write/type it out.

 

Growing With Grammar/Soaring With Spelling/Winning With Writing. He is a very fact based workbook loving kid when it comes to those subjects. I also use IEW.

 

Christian Light Education Reading program. It has short passages and he likes the light units - not as much text and can be broken down in small parts.

 

Hope this helps some. His selective mutism was had to deal with in every other setting but homeschool. Since he is on the spectrum it was theorized by his Dr and therapist that that was the way his anxiety manifested itself. He would look like a deer in the headlights when expected to speak.

Thanks so much for responding. :)

 

My son writes notes to his teacher, writes answers on the board etc., but over the last year or two he's been trying to avoid drawing attention to himself, so he hasn't been participating as much in class. Thankfully, I don't think we'll have any of the same issues at home.

 

Thanks for letting me know what curriculum works for you - I think we're going to go with Teaching Textbooks as well. I've just started looking at LOF, but I think it looks really fun. I'll have a look at the others you mentioned.

 

One of my great friends had a dd that was dx with those in first grade. They were really torn about doing meds, because her dh is a doctor. They decided to go ahead and do it, and she was only on a small dose for about 8 months. By the end of the 8 months she was doing great. Now, she is in 5th grade, and has no issues at all without. Good luck, hope this helps some.

Thanks, that actually is helpful. :001_smile: It's always great to hear about a kid who's overcome SM and how. We've decided not to medicate for now, but we're willing to look into it in the future, especially for when he gets closer to high school.

 

Thanks again,

Mary Ellen

[mommymilkies]

Sorry for bumping this up. I need to talk to my doctor about this for my eldest. She will talk to me, dh, her siblings, and my mother. She will say up to a few words to extended family but only when pressed. She honestly pretends they don't exist. She will occasionally talk to kids of our friends or kids at co-op if really really pushed. Not much, though, and only as responses. This got 1000 times worse after a semester of ps kindergarten. She was shy, but had a traumatizing experience and now will not. It's considered HUGE if she even waves hi. I am shy, too, but I've been trying to figure this out. I know she wants friends, but it's so hard for her even to open her mouth. She says she can't. She gets very nervous looking, stares off or will pretend the situation isn't happening.

[Mary Ellen]

Sorry for bumping this up. I need to talk to my doctor about this for my eldest. She will talk to me, dh, her siblings, and my mother. She will say up to a few words to extended family but only when pressed. She honestly pretends they don't exist. She will occasionally talk to kids of our friends or kids at co-op if really really pushed. Not much, though, and only as responses. This got 1000 times worse after a semester of ps kindergarten. She was shy, but had a traumatizing experience and now will not. It's considered HUGE if she even waves hi. I am shy, too, but I've been trying to figure this out. I know she wants friends, but it's so hard for her even to open her mouth. She says she can't. She gets very nervous looking, stares off or will pretend the situation isn't happening.

I'm sorry I missed this, I haven't been checking here regularly.

 

Did you get anything sorted out with your daughter? It certainly sounds like selective mutism to me. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to. :grouphug:

 

 

While I'm at it, I'll just update on my son - he loves homeschooling! Loves, loves, loves it. Can't-believe-we-wasted-five-years-in-public-school loves it. And I love it too. :D

 

I'm attaching his "first day of school" picture, with a big smile in the car on the way home from dropping his brothers off at school (although that smile could have something to do with Colby, who we'd only had for about two weeks at this point). :)

 

Mary Ellen