The Selective Mutism Workbook for Parents and Professionals: Small Steps, Big Changes

Maggie Johnson · Junhua Reitman

May 2023 · Taylor & Francis

About this ebook

This workbook provides hands-on Activities, Strategies, planning sheets and progress trackers for use with children with selective mutism at home, at school and in the wider community. Written by selective mutism expert Maggie Johnson and parent coach Junhua Reitman, the workbook includes first-hand accounts of how children can overcome SM successfully using the Activities and Strategies described in this book. Activities are organised around the daily routines of school and family life and each Activity is broken into a progression of small steps with appropriate Strategies and an accompanying record sheet to track progress. Activities include:

• Using the toilet at school
• Attending social gatherings
• Organising a successful playdate
• Initiating conversation
• Talking in the classroom
• Eating with peers

This workbook is essential reading for parents, professionals and anyone who is looking for a toolkit for selective mutism. It also provides a useful extension to The Selective Mutism Resource Manual, 2nd edition, focusing on the ‘how’ to complement the manual’s ‘what’ and ‘why’. Small steps really do lead to big changes but taking the first step can be the most difficult. This book helps you make that first step.

About the author

Maggie Johnson is co-author of the internationally acclaimed Selective Mutism Resource Manual. She is a speech and language therapist specialising in childhood communication disorders and selective mutism and the associated impact on families, schools and the young people themselves. Maggie leads training days and workshops across the UK and abroad. In 2014 she was awarded a Fellowship of the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists in recognition of her clinical expertise and special contribution to the profession.

Junhua Reitman is the Lead English-to-Chinese translator for several books about selective mutism. As a parent of a child who has overcome selective mutism, Junhua is a trained coach for parents of children with SM, leading an online support group for parents of children with SM, with 1000+ members worldwide. She is also the Director of SunnyMindED Selective Mutism Centre in China.