#selectivemutism

I’ve been working on a summer camp this year with kids of all ages and have about a week left.

The kids have been the highlight of every day I’ve worked and I never know who’s gonna turn up, I get to work with all sorts and some days my biggest achievement is getting a kid to give me a high five when they get picked up to go home other days it’ll be stopping kids from crying or breaking up a fight over a hula hoop.

I’ve managed to talk a kid into doing his physio though after we had a competition over who was able to do the weirdest thing cause we’re both hyper mobile.

I spoke to a kid in maciton everyday he was in camp so we could communicate with him more easily as I was the only staff member who could speak using it.

I am also the only staff member who can “control” (their words) some of the kids. I like to say talk to and explain actions and consequences to a more challenging group so I always work with them.

i'm selectively mute

my mom has never heard of such a thing

she honestly believes that i'm not talking because i'm trying to be a bitch to her

and i can't explain because that involves talking

🤐 CÂM LẶNG CHỌN LỌC KHI – IM LẶNG KHÔNG PHẢI LÀ LỰA CHỌN 🧠

Bạn có từng gặp một đứa trẻ rất hoạt bát ở nhà nhưng gần như không nói gì ở trường?

Hay người thân của bạn muốn giao tiếp nhưng lại “đóng băng” trước đám đông?

👉 Đó có thể không phải là nhút nhát thông thường, mà là câm lặng chọn lọc (Selective Mutism) – một rối loạn lo âu cần được hiểu đúng và can thiệp sớm.

🔍 Câm lặng chọn lọc là gì?

✅ Không phải trẻ không biết nói, mà không thể nói trong một số tình huống xã hội nhất định

✅ Thường xuất hiện ở trẻ em, nhưng nếu bỏ qua có thể kéo dài đến tuổi trưởng thành

✅ Ảnh hưởng lớn đến học tập, mối quan hệ và sự phát triển cảm xúc

⚠️ Dấu hiệu dễ bị bỏ sót:

🔹 Im lặng kéo dài ở lớp học, nơi công cộng

🔹 Giao tiếp bình thường khi ở nhà

🔹 Tránh ánh mắt, căng thẳng khi bị yêu cầu nói

🔹 Dễ bị hiểu nhầm là “ngoan”, “ít nói”, “rụt rè”

💙 Đừng để sự im lặng che lấp tiếng nói cần được lắng nghe. Hiểu đúng hôm nay chính là mở ra cơ hội phát triển trọn vẹn cho ngày mai.

even though sometimes i cannot shut up for the life of me, i still remain tormented by the occasions during which i would do anything to not be shut up. selective mutism is associated with childhood anxiety disorders and therefore carries the connotation that people grow up and consequently grow out of it. i have done nineteen years of growing up yet extremely little growing out of the silence. there is nothing selective about it. i do not pick when to freeze in fear upon being spoken to. i do not pick to share my thoughts only when it is convenient for me or when i can be bothered to. i do not pick. i am not picky like people are picky about foods they dislike. you can push those mushrooms to the side of your plate yet i will never get to push myself to talk when that uncomfortable feeling overwhelms me. this one is for those that long for normality and an absence of judgement. i have knowledge of the words and have the capacity to record them on a page. but this does not mean i can always vocalise them. but i have a privilege to be 'selective' about my 'mutism' right? would you not love to have the ironic reputation of being a linguistic prodigy who can barely communicate themselves?

scrupulous silence

choosing conversation 

particular patter

nothing but impoliteness

defined by a hypothetical ignorance

assumed idiocy

i despise being called ‘selective’

when the words are the ones defeating me

yet i never wanted to fight them

you cannot terrify them

out of lips formerly fastened

with an adhesive of alarm

‘lazy’ when i am longing to try

‘stupid’ when i could write it all down

‘difficult’ when i seek simple safety

hopeless apologies

in desperately distressed eyes

and aching attempts to express

i do not want to withdraw

or cause additional stress

but that is all i know

carve my gravestone

with empty words