I had a lot of questions when I heard about Selective Mutism, but after doing this blog and doing research I have learned a lot. I wanted to ask people what questions they may have about Selective Mutism and see if I was able to answer them after completing the blog.
Some questions that were asked were...
What is it?
What age does it appear at?
What are the symptoms?
Does it go away?
Is it hereditary?
Does it affect the child if family is around?
These were very similiar questions to ones that I had when I started blogging and I was happy to see that I could answer all of them and realized what I have learned from this blog. If I had to answer these questions I would say...
Selective Mutism is a social anxiety disorder where children are able to speak freely around their family and friends, but when in a public situation they are unable to speak and literally freeze up sometimes even their emotions.
Symptoms usually present themselves when children start to being school such as preschool and kindergarten.
Some of the symptoms may be not talking, being shy in public situations, not be able to show emotion, and the fear of talking.
If it is diagnosed and the child recieves treatment progress will be shown. There have been studies that children who do not get treatment may make bad decisions later in life to relieve their anxiety.
There are a large number of children who have SM, that another family member also has a type of social anxiety.
The last question I was a little unsure about. I know that the child feels more comfortable and is able to speak around their family, but I wasn't sure if they are in a public place and family is still around if they present symptoms. I do know that they usually freeze up in many situations so my answer to this would be that if in any public situation the child usually will struggle to speak and show emotion.
I was really happy to see that I was able to answer these questions with confidence after doing all the research.
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