What Is Selective Mutism?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two articles in Toastmaster magazine that discuss an uncommon childhood anxiety disorder called selective mutism. One by Avery Matteo in the latest June 2026 issue on page 8 is titled How I Found My Voice. She said:

 

“Some of my earliest memories are shaped by my experiences with selective mutism, an anxiety disorder that makes speaking to unfamiliar people feel impossible. Public spaces were overwhelming, and even small interactions—such as asking a question to my teacher at school or expressing a need—felt out of reach.”

 

Another article by Jolene Stockman in the July 2019 issue on page 11 is titled Fitting In As An Autistic Speaker. Her third sentence said:

 

“We didn’t know it yet, but we were the founding members of Ngāmotu Breakfast Toastmasters, a club that would remain active 20 years later and took me from school kid with selective mutism to Distinguished Toastmaster and TEDx speaker.”

 

Wikipedia has an article on selective mutism, and there is a Selective Mutism Association with an article titled What is SM? There is a blog post by Anthony D. Smith at Psychology Today on March 7, 2026 titled What You Should Know About Selective Mutism. And the National Health Service [NHS] UK has a February 17, 2023 article on Selective Mutism beginning with the following description:

 

“Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder where a person is unable to speak in certain social situations, such as with classmates at school or to relatives they do not see very often.

It usually starts during childhood and, if left untreated, can persist into adulthood. A child or adult with selective mutism does not refuse or choose not to speak at certain times, they're literally unable to speak. 

The expectation to talk to certain people triggers a freeze response with feelings of anxiety and panic, and talking is impossible. In time, the person may learn to anticipate the situations that provoke this distressing reaction and do all they can to avoid them.

However, people with selective mutism are able to speak freely to certain people, such as close family and friends, when nobody else is around to trigger the freeze response. Selective mutism affects about 1 in 140 young children [~0.7 %]. It's more common in girls and children who have recently migrated from their country of birth.”

 Finally, there is a long article by Chaya Rodrigues-Pereira et al. in European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry on December 1, 2021 (Volume 32, number 10, pages 1821 to 1839) titled Diagnosing selective mutism: a critical review of measures for clinical practice and research.

 

The ‘speak no evil’ monkey image was adapted from Wikimedia Commons.