Family calls for silent treatment

6:45am Thu Dec 15, 2011

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A mother is calling for more to be done to help parents whose children suffer from an anxiety disorder that stops them from talking.

Mrs Sarah Cresswell, of Bluebell Bank, Bingham, and her husband Ian, struggled to get answers as to why their six-year-old daughter, Katherine, spoke at home but became mute once she walked through the school gates.

However, thanks to therapy, Katherine has made friends at school, sings in assembly and speaks to teachers.

The family featured on ITV’s My Child’s Not Perfect, a series about children struggling with problems that drastically affect their behaviour.

Mrs Cresswell said without the programme, Katherine, a pupil at Robert Miles Infants’ School, would not have received the therapy she needed.

“We had been told by a child psychologist that although help was available through the NHS, we couldn’t have it in our area. We didn’t even know who to contact for private therapy,” she said.

“The overwhelming message from health professionals was that selective mutism was something children grow out of but it’s actually an anxiety disorder.

“The earlier the treatment starts, the better the outcome.

“We never knew how much therapy would have cost even if we had wanted to go private and so we are extremely grateful for the opportunity we were given.

“Our advice to parents is never to give up and to keep pushing.

“Katherine desperately wanted a way out of her situation and when she was given the chance, she ran with it.”

Before receiving therapy through the programme, filmed in the summer, Katherine never spoke at school. Instead, she would sometimes just nod or shake her head and on occasion use sign language.

Mrs Cresswell said Katherine would not communicate at all, even when she desperately needed to, such as when she badly injured her chin in PE and when she was sick at the dinner table.

Six months on, however, she is making progress.

“She is not reciting poetry in front of the class or anything but she is using her voice a lot more,” said Mrs Cresswell.

“I could never have imagined she would have progressed so much.

“The school has been incredibly supportive and has been a huge help. They were very welcoming of the specialist who went in to work with Katherine and her teachers have embraced what has been asked of them.”

According to the Selective Mutism Information and Research Association, six in 1,000 children suffer with selective mutism, the same number as those who suffer with autism.

Although Katherine’s parents knew something was wrong when she was two-years-old, she was not officially diagnosed with the condition until three years later.

Mrs Cresswell said: “If nothing is done to help children with selective mutism early on, what happens to their future education? What about when they go for a job? They may turn into adults who feel completely unconfident about themselves and that could lead to depression. They could become a burden on the state and it doesn’t have to be that way.

“Katherine is still working with a therapist but her future is looking a lot brighter.

“The anxious look that filled her eyes when she went to school has completely gone, and that speaks volumes.”

Katherine’s therapist, Michelle Baynham, who featured in the ITV programme, said: “Sarah and Ian have inspired many families not to give up.

“By taking a different path Katherine has received speech and language therapy, which has set her on her own new adventure.

“Raising the profile of selective mutism and showing how easily these children can fall through the system is priceless, just like our own right to communicate.”

For more information about selective mutism and other speech and language conditions visit www.helpwithtalking.com