Heard your voice again yesterday. It was so good. So good. It was a lovely warm afternoon and we had a lovely time having lunch outside and then your brother came home and you were both jumping on the trampoline. You used to sing on the trampoline and this seemed to trigger something in you. You began to make noises. You'd been using your voice for a couple of days - screaming and 'singing' rather tunelessly but using it all the same as if you were unsure that it still worked and surprised to find that it did. You did this on the trampoline and slowly but surely you were singing. Proper words. Your brother's face when he came into the kitchen to see me - 'Mummy - have you heard Paisley?'. He was overjoyed.
By the time Daddy came home at 7.30 two and a half hours later though, you were back to whispering and this morning when I waved you off in Pre School you were silent again.
You were so excited to have your voice back. It was your 'best bit - finding your voice'. Again, it had been hiding in the wardrobe. Jude had been looking after it for you. Just like your book.
Got to pick myself up even though I'm a little crushed but we've got to carry on.
Things to mention -
- You seem to have regressed with going to the toilet. One of the symptoms of Progressive Mutism is a fear of going to the toilet at school etc., but you need me to go with you at home too now. I wonder whether this is a fear of coming down the stairs after your fall which preceded all this. Maybe this is indeed traumatic mutism caused by the fall?
- Part of me wonders whether I'm making things worse because obviously I'm interpreting your sign language for people so in effect I'm speaking for you. Is this making it worse? The books all say that the expectation of speaking is something that I should take away so I can't put you under any pressure to talk but somehow it seems that I'm indulging you..
- You're a happy and adorable child and you do seem to be accepting no better these days without the tantrums that you've developed recently.
hi. i came across your blog because it was one of the first results that came up when i was googling "progressive selective mutism." it seems your daughter shares a lot of the symptoms that i had when i was a child. i don't know what kind of hope I can offer you, except that selective mutism does eventually fade away. it might be replaced with regular social anxiety, which is a manageable condition. anyway, i wish you & your daughter well. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you. She does now speak to most people, not all, so has retained some Selective Mutism. I suspect, like you said, that she will always have some social anxiety, and then again, sometimes she's completely extrovert. We just take it as it comes these days..
ReplyDeleteHow has Paisley been doing since your last post? I ran across your blog by chance, trying to find information on different types of mutism. You mentioned in your comment that your daughter has been speaking and I'm wondering how this positive change came about. Did she go through any type of therapy that you would recommend?
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