Day 274: Selective Mutism

October is Selective Mutism Awareness Month. My daughter, Chelsea suffer from this. It all started 6 years ago when she started Pre-School. She just stopped talking. She would talk to us, and her siblings, but stopped talking to grandparents, and other close relatives & family. She did talk to the friends she did make. Every year in school she has struggled with this. She finally got to 1st grade, and started whisper talking. 2nd grade she did wonderful! And in 3rd grade it was back to not talking. I am happy to say that 4th grade has been wonderful & we just started school just a bit ago, and she has talked to both of her teachers so far!! So it's been quite a journey to get to where we are today. I hope to spread some awareness on selective mutism, because not to many people know what it is. If I have to talk till I am blue in the face, then so be it! Some people can be quite rude when they encounter my daughter, expecting her to talk to you, when you don't even realize how hard it is for her to do. I'm sure she is so tired of hearing the word "Shy" by now. But that is the easiest way to explain selective mutism to people when they just don't get what you are trying to tell them. I just want people to understand her that is all. I'm sure you would do anything to make you're child's life easier if they were struggling with something. All I am asking is that you take 5 minutes, and read about selective mutism. I don't talk about this all the time, so it's not like I am blasting this all the time. But for the month of October you can bet you're duppa I'm gonna spread the word.