Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- 1 Brain disorders
- 2 Substance use disorders
- 3 Schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like disorders
- 4 Affective disorders
- 5 Anxiety disorders
- 6 Obsessive-compulsive disorders
- 7 Adjustment disorders
- 8 Post-traumatic stress disorder
- 9 Functional somatic symptoms and somatoform disorders in children
- 10 Eating disorders: anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa
- 11 Sleep disorders
- 12 Personality disorders
- 13 Mental retardation/learning disability
- 14 Specific developmental disorders of speech and language
- 15 Reading and other learning disorders
- 16 Autism spectrum disorders
- 17 Hyperkinetic disorders
- 18 Conduct disorders
- 19 Elective mutism
- 20 Attachment and disorders of attachment
- 21 Tic disorders
- 22 Elimination disorders: enuresis and encopresis
- 23 Physical and sexual abuse
- 24 Gender identity disorders
- Index
- References
19 - Elective mutism
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 August 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of contributors
- 1 Brain disorders
- 2 Substance use disorders
- 3 Schizophrenia and schizophrenia-like disorders
- 4 Affective disorders
- 5 Anxiety disorders
- 6 Obsessive-compulsive disorders
- 7 Adjustment disorders
- 8 Post-traumatic stress disorder
- 9 Functional somatic symptoms and somatoform disorders in children
- 10 Eating disorders: anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa
- 11 Sleep disorders
- 12 Personality disorders
- 13 Mental retardation/learning disability
- 14 Specific developmental disorders of speech and language
- 15 Reading and other learning disorders
- 16 Autism spectrum disorders
- 17 Hyperkinetic disorders
- 18 Conduct disorders
- 19 Elective mutism
- 20 Attachment and disorders of attachment
- 21 Tic disorders
- 22 Elimination disorders: enuresis and encopresis
- 23 Physical and sexual abuse
- 24 Gender identity disorders
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
The term ‘elective mutism’ was originally coined in 1934 by the Swiss pioneer of child psychiatry, Moritz Tramer. However, it is assumed that the German physician, Kussmaul, was the first to describe three cases in 1877 under the term ‘aphasia voluntaria’. Whereas the ICD-10 stuck to the original term ‘elective mutism’, the DSM-IV has slightly changed the term to ‘selective mutism’. Both the original designation and the fact that the ICD-10 as the dominant European scheme of classification uses ‘elective mutism’ as the descriptor are the reasons why this chapter follows this term.
Children with elective mutism are rarely seen in clinical practice, although it may be assumed that there are some more in the general population who will either be referred rather late or perhaps never for assessment and intervention. Consequently, a large body of clinical knowledge rests on case reports or descriptions of small series of children with a few exceptions of studies based on more extended series of patients.
Definition and classification
According to the ICD-10, the following four criteria lead to the diagnosis of elective mutism:
marked and consistent selectivity in speaking, i.e. failure to speak in social situations
a normal or near-normal level of language comprehension
a level of competence in language expression that would be sufficient for social communications, and
demonstrable evidence that the child could and did speak normally or almost normally in some situations.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- A Clinician's Handbook of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry , pp. 557 - 572Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2006
References
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