The Ten Key Points To Know About Selective Mutism

1. Selective mutism is a social anxiety disorder characterized by not speaking to specific people or in specific venues. More extreme than shyness, the problem surfaces in varied degrees of severity, mostly in children.
2. The condition is relatively easy to diagnose. If you know that the individual can speak normally but refuses to do so in specific situations, selective mutism is present. To rule out other disorders, however, it is important to assess if "processing" challenges are present.
3. Selective mutism is not a speech disorder. Speech therapy and traditional individual therapy for the child are in fact typically non-productive.
4. Selective mutism can be considered an “addiction” to the avoidance of speaking, or a phobia of speaking.
5. Selective mutism in childhood is highly correlated with social anxiety and social phobia as the sufferer develops.
6. If not addressed and corrected, Selective mutism can cause avoidant and dependent personality disorders. Anxiety worsens with time as it integrates insidiously into the personality.
7. Productive treatment is primarily based on a multi-dimensional methodology founded on corrective parenting. In most cases, for school interventions to be successful, re-parenting strategies must be in effect at home and working. If not, there is much potential for "fragmentation" of care-giving which worsens the problem.
8. The biggest mistake made regarding selective mutism in children is the belief that "the child will grow out of the problem".
9. The second biggest mistake is the incorrect use of medication, which typically worsens the problem.
10. There are very few therapists anywhere in the world who have demonstrated clinical productivity and expertise for treating this condition. 

Hear first-hand about the trials and successful treatment of selective mutism sufferers:

Listen to Delia describe her son who chose not to speak to her and was non-responsive to everyone around him at school. She feels that telephone therapy "broke the glass door" that had her "son trapped behind it."

Listen to Lynn, who was told that her clingy, selectively mute six-year-old daughter, who had been selectively mute for over three years, would "grow out of it." After telephone counseling, her child is now "just like the other kids."

Hear Mike, a 35-year-old with SM with social anxiety and anger about the way his life was going, describe his "avoidance of talking" because he thought he had "nothing to say." Having joined the Berent program, he has become social with lots to say.

Since 1978, Jonathan Berent, L.C.S.W. and Associates have provided actual treatment to a vast number of selective mutism sufferers of all ages. Jonathan, author of "Beyond Shyness: How to Conquer Social Anxieties" (Simon & Schuster) has made over 1500 media appearances, including the first selective mutism segment aired on national television in 1988.

Empower yourself and your dependent!

Your Options to Resolve Selective Mutism

1. Free CD: Hear interviews with 5 patients who have resolved and cured Selective Mutism
2. "Parenting The Selectively Mute Child": A self-therapy audio CD program for parents of selectively mute children
3. Selective Mutism Seminar on Audio CD
4. Comprehensive therapy in Great Neck, New York
5. Parenting therapy via telephone
6. The book, "Beyond Shyness: How to Conquer Social Anxieties" (Simon & Schuster)
7. Free "Parent Addiction" quiz
8. Subscribe to the Tip of the Month Club