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.