Carl Sutton - Selective Mutism In Our Own Words: Experiences in Childhood and Adulthood

Finally, a book to dispel the myth that Selective Mutism is an exclusively childhood condition. My greatest hope is that this valuable contribution to the field will not only improve understanding of the nature and far-reaching effects of SM, but help mobilise Health Services to provide appropriate support for both children and adults.

Maggie Johnson, FRCSLT, co-author of Can I tell youabout Selective Mutism ?

This must-read book educates about the emotional challenges of Selective Mutism experienced by all involved. From being bullied to overcoming obstacles, Sutton and Forrester expertly weave heartbreaking and uplifting moments through personal stories that read like journal entries. This is a resource that should be on all clinicians shelves.

Joleen R. Fernald, PhD, CCC-SLP, BCS-CL, Selective Mutism Expert

of related interest

Tackling Selective Mutism

A Giude for Professionals and Parents

Edited by Benita Rae Smith and Alice Sluckin

ISBN 978 1 84905 393 8

eISBN 978 0 85700 761 2

Can I tell you about Selective Mutism?

A guide for friends, family and professionals

Maggie Johnson and Alison Wintgens

Illustrated by Robyn Gallow

ISBN 978 1 84905 289 4

eISBN 978 0 85700 611 0

SELECTIVE

MUTISM

IN

OUR

OWN

WORDS

EXPERIENCES IN CHILDHOOD AND ADULTHOOD

Carl Sutton and Cheryl Forrester

Foreword by Donna Williams

Jessica Kingsley Publishers
London and Philadelphia

First published in 2016

by Jessica Kingsley Publishers

73 Collier Street

London N1 9BE, UK

and

400 Market Street, Suite 400

Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

www.jkp.com

Copyright Carl Sutton and Cheryl Forrester 2016

Foreword copyright Donna Williams 2016

Front cover image courtesy of Kimberly Gerry-Tucker.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing it in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright owner except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, Saffron House, 610 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the publisher.

Warning: The doing of an unauthorised act in relation to a copyright work may result in both a civil claim for damages and criminal prosecution.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Names: Sutton, Carl. | Forrester, Cheryl.

Title: Selective mutism in our own words : experiences in childhood and

adulthood / Carl Sutton and Cheryl Forrester ; foreword by Donna Williams.

Description: London ; Philadelphia : Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2016. |

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2015029307 | ISBN 9781849056366 (alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Selective mutism.

Classification: LCC RJ506.M87 S88 2016 | DDC 618.92/855--dc23 LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov/2015029307

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 978 1 84905 636 6

eISBN 978 1 78450 114 3

In memory of Carls mother, Maureen, and Cheryls mother, Evelyn, who both passed away within a short space of time in 2014, while this book was being written.

Contents

Some days my rusted tongue is freed, set free

upon a breath of light and chink of air

in whispers first, as whispers are the key

to later, raging, roaring like a bear.

Some days the rusted door is left ajar,

and out the shadows of my whispers waft

my face is near but voice is from afar

at first, but then I sing and hoot aloft.

Some days I hoot of silence to the sun;

I hoot, uncaged, of freedom of the tongue

but yet, by dusk, unfree, I am undone:

my mouth rusts shut each evening and Im wrong.

Some days my rusted tongue is freed, I rage

until the iron nighttime of my cage.

Carl Sutton

Foreword

Condition and personhood enter a dance in which one shapes the other. None of us is solely our condition. We have our own characters, identifications, motivations, experiences, cultures, genders, capacities and opportunities which all change the unique ways we each live with a seemingly comparable condition. Selective Mutism is one such condition. It can affect those from any background, those with or without other disabilities, those from privilege and care and those from challenge and trauma. This book presents that diversity, exploring the commonalities and the differences, how it affected lives at different stages, their opportunities, what has worked for them, what has compounded their Selective Mutism. The accounts within the book present Selective Mutism from so many angles as an involuntary self-protection response, as habit and compulsion, as addiction, as investment and security, as anxiety disorder, as identification, as a product of interplay with the environment, as predisposition, as weakness, and as perceived strength. Selective Mutism presents challenges to a speaking world which is frustrated by those with it. And it presents challenges to those living with it in a speaking world. Most promising are the stories of those determined to challenge their own limitations in either overcoming their Selective Mutism or learning to live more constructively with it; and those determined that Selective Mutism alone will not define them.

Donna Williams, BA Hons, Dip Ed.
Author, artist and presenter
www.donnawilliams.net

Acknowledgements

Our sincerest and most special thanks to every person who contributed his or her own life experience to this book. This book would never have been written without you. Special thanks also to those who collectively proofread the book, including many of the same contributors; and also Rae Smith and Alice Sluckin (of the Selective Mutism Information and Research Association SMIRA); Paz Lopez Herrero (University of Granada, Spain); and Anita McKiernan (City University, London). Special thanks also to Michelle Tytherleigh, who supervised Carls exploratory study on Selective Mutism in Adults (University of Chester, UK) and to Astrid Schepman (University of Chester, UK). Sincere thanks to Maggie Johnson (Kent Community Health NHS Foundation Trust) for numerous e-mail discussions on Selective Mutism. Special thanks also to Donna Williams for writing such an inspiring and beautiful foreword for us; and to Kimberly Gerry-Tucker for creating the cover art. Last but not least, sincere thanks to Lisa Clark, Sarah Hamlin, Lucy Buckroyd, Sarah Minty and Emma Holak, our editors at Jessica Kingsley Publishers, who did a fantastic job at each and every stage of making this book become a reality.

Preface

This book came about because, as someone with a very long history of Selective Mutism (SM) myself, I did not feel there was sufficient personal experience of this anxiety disorder in published literature. This point is noted by academic writers on the subject too:

The voices of people who have been selectively mute are still largely missing from follow-up reports and, in fact, from the literature on the subject as a whole. (Cline and Baldwin, 2004, p. 213)

In particular there is a dearth of outcome studies SM does not necessarily remit in early childhood and the result can be education difficulties; further anxiety disorders and depression; difficulty finding or maintaining employment; and severe social isolation.