For the longest time, there weren’t any resources available for selectively mute teenagers and adults. Fortunately most of my readership finds my blog when their children are very young – from about 3 to about 9 or so. This is a good sign, that these children are getting diagnosed early and (hopefully) receiving interventions.
In my research a few years back, I could find very little information for teenagers and adults, and I’m happy to report that has changed.
I stumbled across iSpeak, a UK-based website with the tagline “SPEAKING UP FOR TEENAGERS AND ADULTS WITH SELECTIVE MUTISM AND THEIR PARENTS”
I encourage you to check them out. They seem to have a well-organized site.
I’m happy to report that there is a book of personal stories, from children, teenagers, adults, and parents. It’s one of the books I was hoping to publish, but didn’t. I have a few personal stories from parents, young adults and adults here that you can read, though you can find more in that book.
If anyone is interested in having their voice heard here on my blog about your experiences living with selective mutism or parenting a child with selective mutism, I encourage you to write out your experience in the comments or email me at raisingsmartgirls AT yahoo DOT com and I’ll share your story, too. I imagined many people, like me, couldn’t afford a whole lot of materials so while the book would have been wonderful to read when I was in the thick of things with my SM kiddo, it didn’t exist then. I created my own little support system by blogging about it here. It feels good that I have been able to help a few. I hope parents continue to spread the word about SM.
I would absolutely love to get a copy of this book that they promote Selective Mutism In Our Own Words and review it, but I’m currently out of work now, and I don’t have the money. I hope I can some day.
Raising Smart Girls 