My son Ryan is selectively mute. He talks up a storm at home, is very creative and has a huge vocabulary. He's extremely artistic and comes up with all sorts of massive art projects that decorate our walls and fabricates elaborate games that go on for hours.
However, he will not speak to anyone outside our family. He just looks at them with a gleam in his eye and his little mouth clamped shut. It's become a bit of a game with my friends to see if they can get him to say anything to them. Yesterday, a mom at kung fu tried to rile him up by accusing him of being just one year old. He shook his head, sending his feathery hair flying, but would not speak.
At bedtime, I asked him why he wouldn't talk to any adults except me and on rare occasions his father. Ryan's answer was that everyone is talking in Spanish and he can't understand them. Should this be cause for alarm? I am fairly certain we mostly associate with English speakers. Do I force him to talk, or just let the phase pass...it's kind of embarrassing, but funny at the same time. Where do they get this stuff? I'd love to live inside his head for a day and see what the heck goes on in there.
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2 comments:
Let the phase pass. If you're really concerned, ask your pediatrician/family doctor. Sounds like he has an active imagination, something that's being driven out of a lot of our kids at an early age!
I will let it pass. I think he likes the attention he gets when people focus on making him talk! He does have a good (albeit weird) imagination.
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