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Selective Mutism

Kate Kestrel

Does anyone on here have Selective Mutism? My son has struggled with Selective Mutism (in educational settings) for about 16 years and it’s just struck me that we’ve never had a conversation with another person who has Selective Mutism. I’m new(ish) to this community so I just thought I’d ask if anyone else has gone through their whole education with Selective Mutism. And also if you have managed to overcome it - how did you do that? 
We’re basically just interested in hearing about other people’s experience of this. Thanks Sunflower

  • Hello, I used to have SM. I hope your son knows he is not alone, Selective Mutism is a common experience for many autistic people. SM affected me from year 8 to year 12- it was my aim to overcome it in sixth form. I managed to do this after I was off school because of major surgery. I think my SM was autistic shutdown instead, I know it may not feel achievable for your son right now but it is possible to overcome SM.

     I hope this helps.

  • I struggled with language when I was young.  So I was called shy. Or Instead of silence I’d just cry - arrested frustration instead of arrested Mutism. 

    But for me this was due to confusion with language and social codes or being overwhelmed, so all the things which aid precision and clarity helped including logic, philosophy, psychology, ethics, boundaries, awareness and a dictionary.