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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I suspect that my (almost 5 year old) daughter will be dx with it shortly- she talks all the time at home and with friends that she has known for a long time (like since they were babies). At school she will never voluntarily speak to an adult. If her teacher asks her a direct question, she might whisper an answer, more than likely, she will lean over and whisper to her friend and have her friend answer for her. She has yet to say one word to any adult in her aftercare program, and went the entire summer at camp w/o saying a single word to a counselor. She  will not speak to any adults outside of our family, and it took 2 years befor she would speak to my sister. It is a huge struggle for her. We have just started therapy for her and I don't know what they will recommend. [/quote]

I was the one who posted about our DS and what you describe definitely applied to him at that age.  Even now, there are situations where he will turn to us and say "You say it."  The psychiatrist encouraged us to try to "expose" him to situations where he has to speak and not speak for him, and we've done some of that.  He definitely speaks softly in such circumstances though and it can be hard for others to hear him.  But at least he does speak.  He still often does not speak much, if at all, with relatives and close friends in some cases.  However, we've also found that if we are not around, he will talk more.

A psychologist he saw until last year said that he would not be like this at 16, or as an adult, and we've seen improvement in the last year or so.  As I previously posted, the lack of talking once extended to most other kids, although that is not nearly as much of an issue anymore - his teachers have reported for the past two years that he's appropriately social with other kids.

All that said, I don't think he would've improved as much without Prozac - although these medications are tricky.  DS can only tolerate a very low dose.  He tried Zoloft at one point, at a higher dose in pill form, and we had to take him off of it because he became "disinhibited."

Selective mutism/social anxiety/however you label it is still an issue but it does seem to improve.  Good luck to all![/quote]

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