Exploring how children with selective mutism experience and make sense of their school environment

Selective mutism (SM) is characterised as an anxiety disorder, where children are able to speak in certain environments (e.g. at home), while not being able to speak in others (e.g. at school).

It is often identified when children start school and it can have a negative and long-term impact on social functioning and wellbeing in adulthood.

Therefore, it is important to explore what systemic factors and approaches can support children's social and emotional wellbeing within the context of their school environment.

A systematic literature review of narrative accounts of social behaviours from 21 studies analysed using thematic synthesis (Thomas & Harden, 2008) identified three themes that provided an explanatory framework for understanding patterns of behaviours of individuals with SM in social situations associated with (1) managing social interactions (2) taking risks within social interactions and (3) intentionality of communication, highlighting ways of supporting the social and emotional wellbeing of children with SM.

However, there are a lack of studies exploring the experience of SM within the social context of the school environment and the view of the children is rarely sought.

Therefore, the purpose of the empirical study was to explore what children with SM value about their school environment, specifically, which areas, things and activities at school they like and do not like, by conducting semi-structured interviews with four children aged 5-10, presenting with the behavioural profile of SM, using multiple methods, including photography, drawings and a map of the school.

Using polytextual thematic analysis (PTA; Gleeson, 2001) four themes were identified that communicated children's (1) autonomy in a social space (2) individuality and personal story, (3) sense of connectedness and (4) adult roles.

School staff can create opportunities for developing children's autonomy and for supporting children's teacher and peer relationships to nurture communication and sense of belonging, in addition to speech.