The Quiet Child: A Literature Review of Selective Mutism

Selective mutism is an unusual but intriguing condition with a reputation for being particularly intractable to intervention. Originally described as 'elective mutism', selective mutism is a heterogeneous disorder associated with a number of individual and family factors including developmental disorders/delay; particular temperamental and personality characteristics; and other co-morbid symptoms and psychiatric disorders. Considered by some in the past as an oppositional disorder, it is the proposal that SM might be a childhood manifestation of an anxiety disorder such as social phobia that has influenced recent developments in the use of behavioural and drug interventions.