It helps to know the reason for the speechlessness so that your son’s teacher will know how to modify her teaching style to make the student and teacher comfortable. Since he has normal speech at home, perhaps he is selectively mute.
Selectively mute children might be speechless all the time or only in social situations which make them afraid. They might show anxiety, excessive shyness, fear of social embarrassment and withdrawal. Symptoms* include
- “consistent failure to speak in specific social situations (in which there is an expectation for speaking, such as at school) continues despite speaking in other situations.
- “not speaking interferes with school or work, or with social communication.
- “not speaking lasts at least one month (not limited to the first month of school).
- “failure to speak is not due to a lack of knowledge of, or comfort, with the spoken language required in the social situation
- “not speaking is not due to a communication disorder (e.g., stuttering).”
Ask that your son be evaluated by a speech pathologist. But also have his hearing tested. Sometimes persistent middle ear infections can make hearing hard.
After you have pinpointed the problem as much as possible, then you can plan how to make your son verbal in school. This may take several professionals working together—the school psychologist, the speech pathologist, his teacher, you and possibly his pediatrician.
In the meantime, inform his reading teacher that you are following up on her observation. Ask her to accept that this behavior is normal for him right now. Ask her to find nonverbal ways for him to respond and participate in group activities until an intervention plan gets underway.
*According to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.
comicphonics for early readers 