Hi everyone,

Hope you don't mind me joining your group. I'm in the UK.

I'm a teacher of 5-6 year olds and have a 6 year old girl in my class
with Selective Mutism. She has been in school a year and will now
talk with a teacher's aide from her last class but only when totally
alone with her.

I want to work towards her eventually talking to me and would like to
hear how best to achieve this. I am totally new to this condition and
would also be grateful if you could recommend any reading or websites.

Apparently the girl talks at home to parents and brother but I'm not
sure if she talks to anyone else. In class she seems happy and is
making progress. I was worried about how she would cope with a new
class and new teachers (I job-share) and new class-mates (we have
mixed age classes so she doesn't know all the kids) but she seems to
have coped wonderfully since the new term started on 1 Sept.

She has made some progress since joining the class...She raises her
hand rather than just looking at me as a response to the register and
last week she came out to the board in front of all her classmates
and did some writing during our literacy hour. She even came back up
to correct a spelling mistake. She has also moved to sit on a ew
table away from her best friend.

I don't want to over-pressurise her to participate but so far she has
done everything I've asked of her. I always ask her if she'd like to
do something first. She is a bright, capable girl and I want to help
her achieve her potential and most of all I want her to have the
confidence to speak, first to me and then maybe to her classmates.

Thanks for listening.

love Kate.