I blog about this when Tim entered primary 1. He had a problem where he cannot speak in school. He didn’t speak to his friends or teachers when he was in kindy at all. His friends asked me “Can Timothy speak?” Similarly, first few months of primary 1, he was the same.

My hubby and I took steps to encourage him to speak in school. I took some flash card and accompany him to school. I would ask him to read to me in a quiet area. Every time he does that, he gets rewarded with a sticker, eventually get a gift after collecting a number of them. He could read the cards without problem in school.

Next step, we invited 2 to 3 friends which he talks about at home. First we can see he wanted to talk but his high anxiety holds him back. All he could do was whisper. His friends were amazed to hear him whisper because they never heard his voice before.

We were persistent to do this until he could read to his friends at normal voice. After a few weeks, we took a simple story book and he read his with his friends.

We told his class teacher and counselor teacher that he was having such problem. His counselor teacher always invites him to her office to talk to him. He could whisper to her. He was really happy when the teacher gave him a ruler.

That was standard 1. Now he is in standard 2, he can talk & play with his friends and sing in school. He still find it difficult talking to teacher. The teacher said he only whispers.

However in Sunday School, he could talk to the Sunday School teachers. I am seeing that he is overcoming his high anxiety.

If you are in the similar situation with me, don’t panic or scold your child. Take small steps to encourage your child. You can view lots of video in YouTube that talks about “Selective Mutism” Most of the time, they will overcoming their high anxiety with not talking. That is their coping mechanism. No one know what is the root cause of this problem. However I suspect it could be due to bad experiences they encounter in school, like fierce teachers scolding them or other children.

Parents out there, if you are talking steps to help your child, although progress is slow, you child will eventually overcome his high anxiety.

By the way, Timothy does not have any problem with his academic. He still learns and does well in school. However he is not doing well with Lisan and Oral which requires him to read to the teacher.