Author’s Note

Whether you are a parent, teacher, or caregiver who has a loved one in your life who faces the challenge of Selective Mutism, or even if you have a purely academic interest in this topic, I am truly overjoyed that you found this book. We will endeavor to show you how minute changes and accommodations in everyday interactions and communications can bring about amazing differences in the daily lives of SM children.

My beautiful, intelligent, and engaging child, Amy, has Selective Mutism (SM). As a loving and devoted parent, as we all are, I wanted to share my knowledge and experiences with those who seek a clearer understanding of the perplexing and little understood condition of Selective Mutism. My purpose in writing this book was to help myself, you and your SM Child to come closer together and gain a mutual understanding of the challenges you both face.

At the age of 3 and a half, we noticed a marked change in Amy. She began talking less in public settings. When she turned 5, she completely stopped talking to individuals outside her immediate family/caregiver/teacher circle. She would only talk to her immediate family and her two closest childhood friends; her soon to be “whisper buddies”.

After being diagnosed with SM, we began engaging Amy in simple activities and using basic strategies to help her engage with her environment. After a year and a half of silence, we were able to get Amy to begin talking and to engage in conversations with new friends using simple activities and strategies within three months.

This book contains specific scenarios paired with contextual strategies that allow you to facilitate communication with SM children. This book also includes fun, interesting drawings for SM kids to color so that they can also learn how they should handle situations in a non-verbal fashion.

The book is called SMart Amy because Amy has Selective Mutism and is very intelligent and cognizant.

SM children are often overlooked because they are some of the brightest and best behaved students in a classroom.

*We will use “she” in this book because Amy is a girl.

作者俊华,艾米妈 。 如有需要，加微信：junwang08837，艾米妈邀你进 “选择性缄默症家长分享群”。

选择性缄默症包括语言恐 Speech Phobia，感知障碍 Sensory Disorder, 社交恐惧 Social Anxiety 。 关键词： 孩子为什么不说话，孩子在外面不说话，孩子不敢说话，和陌生人不说话，社交恐惧，孩子在幼儿园和学校不说话，害羞，敏感，胆子小，懦弱，怕生，内向，没自信，固执，不敢吃饭，不敢去厕所，不敢和小朋友玩，，在家讲话，出门不讲话。只和爸爸妈妈说话， 不敢参加集体活动。