Supporting your Child with Selective Mutism: A Practical Guide for School, Home, and in the Community

This book provides strategies and ideas to support children with selective mutism in school, at home, and in the community. Packed with illustrations, this practical guide offers a roadmap to help children overcome selective mutism in various situations.

Based on Junhua Reitman’s vast experience of working with her own daughter Amelia – known in the book as Amy, and other children, this book furnishes parents and teachers with a toolkit to plan and implement intervention with individual children throughout their journey from the classic selective mutism ‘freeze’ response, to talking freely in various settings.

Techniques covered include:

• Graded questioning
• The buddy system
• The rainbow bridge
• Voice exposure

The reader is offered detailed examples of what worked for Amy in a variety of situations, including in school, at breaktimes, in extra-curricular activities, on playdates, and at birthday parties. These examples are followed up with suggestions and ideas of how these experiences could be applied to other children, making it ideal reading for anyone involved in the care of a child with selective mutism.

Key features:

• A single book with comprehensive information about Selective Mutism challenges, activities and strategies for parents. Written from the parents’ point of view which makes it unique: over the years author Junhua Reitman has helped numerous parents implement strategies to help their children overcome Selective Mutism. An affordable, illustrated self-help intervention plan accompanied by activities in various settings to help children overcome Selective Mutism. The strategies and activities have been field-tested and proven useful by real parents of children with Selective Mutism around the globe. The authors have lived experience of Selective Mutism.

Table of Contents

Aknowledgements

Foreword

Prefaces

About the Book

Part 1: About Selective Mutism

Part 2: Parents Become Advocates in and Outside of School

Part 3: Teacher Staff Provide Support in and Outside of School

Part 4: Challenges the Child May Face at School

Part 5: Support for the Child at Home and in the Community

Part 6: Overcome Selective Mutism and Build Social Skills

List of Tables

List of Figures

List of Forms

Index