Teachers are just not getting dd's needs

amother

Lavender

Mon, Mar 07 2016, 1:43 pm

6 year old dd has spd and selective mutism. I've been very open with the teachers about exactly what this means. BH the spd is not much of a problem at school. When I ask her teachers about the mutism, they say she is fine, but then at conferences last week, they tell me she rarely speaks to them, and when she does, out of necessity, it's very very quietly. She is however, loud and rambunctious with her friends, and easily distracted by them.

Ok... So first they tell me she is fine, but now I'm told this...
Their suggestion to me was to encourage her to talk to her teachers...
In my head I'm rolling my eyes thinking, I've been telling her that everyday of her life for like 4 years... And, guess what? Its not going to work! She needs encouragment from YOU, the one who she is afraid to talk to...

She had a psych eval for the selective Mutism, but they said it wasn't causing enough problems to warrant an official diagnosis and treatment at this point.
All of this happened while her morahs said she was doing fine, but this may have been different if the teachers had told me she is not talking to them.

AnywAy I get the impression from them that they have zero patience to try to help her at school. Her English teacher however, has done a lot to help, and DD is doing great in that class.

I know, not all teachers get it, and they don't all have a background in this, but one of them happens have a background in special ed. And I've sent notes from dd's OT explaining her needs.

The other night we saw dd's teacher at an out of school event, and the teacher did not say hi to her. Yes, she did see her. Hello? How do you expect her to talk to you, when you ignore her???

observer

Mon, Mar 07 2016, 1:59 pm

If she has selective mutism, having the teachers encourage her to talk is probably the worst thing to do. They need to involve her without a pressure to talk, and not make a big deal when she talks.

There is someone I think her name is Shaindel Cohen who works with children who have selective mutism and she can train the teachers, as well.