All of us are facing daily challenges. It only differs in the gravity and levels depending on how we handle the situations that life is offering us. As an educator and a formator, I'm concerned about the cases of referrals in my office. These are students that need to be closely monitored from time to time.
Few of the cases that i'm handling right now are AD/HD, oppositional defiant disorder, stealing and the most challenging is selective mutism (SM). Based on the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV), selective mutism is described as a rare psychological mental disorder in children. Children and adults with the disorder are fully capable of speech and understanding language, but can fail to speak in certain social situations when it is expected of them. It is in presentation an inability to speak in certain situations. They function normally in other areas of behavior and learning, though appear withdrawn and some are unable to participate in group activities. As an example, a child may be completely silent at school, for years at a time, but speak quite freely or even excessively at home (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Selective_mutism).
My student has suffered in this disorder for more than two years now since she was enrolled in our school in 2008. I met her a month ago. At first, I didn't realize that she has SM because she greeted her former guidance counselor together with her elder sister as they sneaked on her office. It was only a few minutes later after they left when my officemate told me that she has SM and she's going to be one of the cases I'll handle this school year. I was amaze for she could speak to us freely. And so, I set an appointment with her previous counselor and she relayed everything to me regarding her condition.
She only speaks at home and in most of the public places except in school. If ever she does, it will be a very rare instance and it is with those people whom she trusts specifically those who were/are not her teachers (sister and best friend). I also scanned on her records and discovered that her IQ is superior but her actual performance is only an average. This clearly shows that she's underachieving from her actual intellectual capacity which is superior. It maybe due to her condition because a number of learning opportunities are missed since social skills and communication are major issues in school if one wants to cope with academic demands. I also learned that she has a "trauma" on the school she previously enrolled and this affected her views about it. Bullying and teacher-factor are few of the major concerns she had experienced in that school. Her emotional coping is very low and underdeveloped. This shows on how she manages herself in social situations especially in dealing with difficult scenarios. Based on her records, she was 7 months younger than her age group when she started schooling. However, we could say that her age could be one factor on why she has poor emotional coping. This is a kind of struggle which she might carry until she reaches adolescence and worst yet, in adulthood if not given an immediate help.
As part of the intervention, I went on a meeting with her subject teachers and class moderator. We discussed about the matter and came up with a plan to help her overcome SM. I also referred her to a counselling psychologist for an assessment and I found out important details in the results of her tests. I can’t reveal the entire and actual results here due to issues on confidentiality. However, it is suggested that in dealing with her, people must treat her with utmost care in terms of giving instructions and conversing with her even if she doesn’t talk. There might also be other activities that I’ll be giving which would largely involve her family, friends, classmates and teachers.
Meanwhile, I called her the other day for another session in my office and she mentioned to me about an oral test that she will undertake a few minutes after our session. So, I took that opportunity to make her realize that it’s okay to talk and presented her some possible consequences. I set a goal for her and she agrees to it freely.
On the night of the same day, I receive an email coming from the teacher who gave her the oral test and reported to me how successful it was. Though, she was still accompanied by her sister during the test, she was able to answer the questions asked by her teacher verbally. Hence, this is considered a progress in her condition. I’m so happy to know that our intervention had helped her in some way. I’m hoping that this improvement will continue and eventually she will recover from this dark phase of her life.
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