The successful treatment of long-term selective mutism: a case study

Practitioner Review: Psychosocial interventions for children with selective mutism: a critical evaluation of the literature from 1990–2005

“…Another type of behavioral intervention that appears promising for children with persistent SM is systematic desensitization (Rye & Ullman, 1999). Systematic desensitization traditionally involves the use of relaxation skills along with gradual exposure to successively more anxiety‐provoking situations.…”

“…In this type of intervention a hierarchy of feared speaking events is constructed and therapy consists of a series of imaginal and in vivo exposures to feared situations. Systematic desensitization may be particularly helpful when school‐based contingency management and remedial programs are unsuccessful and there are significant secondary gains for the child (Rye & Ullman, 1999). In cases where anxiety is related to social interactions with peers, social skills training may also be used to reduce anxiety and facilitate speech with peers.…”

“…To date there has been only one small non‐controlled treatment study (Krohn, Weckstein, & Wright, 1992) and one small group study comparing two different SM treatments (Sluckin, Foreman, & Herbert, 1991). The age range of the children studied is quite narrow, with only two studies describing interventions with older children (Bonovitz, 2003; Rye & Ullman, 1999). There is also a great deal of inconsistency in the duration of treatment (five sessions to more than three years) and overall the follow‐up time is short (usually less than one year post‐treatment).…”

“…As shown in Table 1, interventions involving stimulus fading have been successful in increasing both the amount of speech and the number of people spoken to in a variety of settings (Masten et al, 1996;Watson & Kramer, 1992). Another type of behavioral intervention that appears promising for children with persistent SM is systematic desensitization (Rye & Ullman, 1999). Systematic desensitization traditionally involves the use of relaxation skills along with gradual exposure to successively more anxiety-provoking situations.…”

Augmented self‐modeling as an intervention for selective mutism

“…Published literature reviews provide numerous examples and case studies supporting the efficacy of behavior modification interventions, both in the clinical and school settings (Anstendig, 1998; Cohan, Chavira, & Stein, 2006; Wong, 2010). These interventions include methods such as contingency management (Amari, Slifer, Gerson, Schenck, & Kane, 1999; Vecchio & Kearney, 2009), stimulus fading (Beare, Torgerson, & Creviston, 2008; Watson & Kramer, 1992), audio and video self‐modeling (Blum et al, 1998; Kehle, Madaus, Baratta, & Bray, 1998; Kehle, Owen, & Cressy, 1990), systematic desensitization (Rye & Ullman, 1999; Scott, 1977), and social skills training (O'Reilly et al, 2008).…”