title: Selective mutism: a home-and kindergarten-based intervention for children 3-5 years: a pilot study.
abstract: The aim was to examine the outcome of a multimodal treatment for selective mutism (SM). Seven children, aged three-five years, who were referred for SM were included. The treatment started at home and was continued at kindergarten for a maximum of six months, with predefined treatment goals in terms of speaking levels, from I ("Speaks to the therapist in a separate room with a parent present") through to VI ("Speaks in all kindergarten settings without the therapist present"). The outcome measures were the teacher-reported School Speech Questionnaire (SSQ) and the treatment goal obtained (I-VI) six months after the onset of treatment, and the SSQ and Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI) at one-year follow-up. Six children spoke in all kindergarten settings (VI) after a mean of 14 weeks treatment. One child, with more extensive neuro-developmental delay, spoke in some settings only (V). The mean SSQ score was 0.59 (SD = 0.51) at baseline compared with 2.68 (SD = 0.35) at the six-month evaluation and 2.26 (SD = 0.93) at one-year follow-up. The mean CGI score at baseline was 4.43 (SD = 0.79) compared with 1.14 (SD = 0.38) at follow-up. Home- and kindergarten-based treatment appears to be promising.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Child and Adolescent Mental Health, Eastern & Southern Norway. beate.orbeck@r-bup.no
authors.forename: Beate
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Oerbeck
authors.forename: Jorunn
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Johansen
authors.forename: Kathe
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lundahl
authors.forename: Hanne
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kristensen
mesh_terms: D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006699:Home Care Services; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009155:Mutism / Q000628:therapy*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012574:Schools; D012931:Social Environment; D016896:Treatment Outcome