Refusal to Speak: Treatment of Selective Mutism in Children (Child Therapy (Jason Aronson)) [Hardcover]

Sheila Spasaro (Editor), Charles Schaefer (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0765701251 | ISBN-13: 978-0765701251 | Publication Date: May 1, 1999

Selective mutism in children is characterized by persistent refusal to speak in one or more social situations (e.g., at school or among strangers), notwithstanding the demonstrated ability to use language at home. The range of treatment options has recently expanded to include promising behavioral, psychopharmacological, and multi-modal approaches in addition to psychodynamic and family systems therapy. Toward overcoming the traditional intractability of the disorder, the authors exhort clinicians - psychologists, psychiatrists, pediatricians, counselors, social workers - to familiarize themselves with all of the options in order to expand their repertoires and individualize treatment strategies. Comprehensive in scope, this book presents the major therapeutic approaches and offers alternatives to professionals working with selectively mute children.

A Jason Aronson Book

Editorial Reviews

Review

Refusal To Speak: Treatment of Selective Mutism in Children is of significant value to professionals working with children who present with this extraordinary behavioral pattern. The book pulls together the available literature and then goes one step further. The material is organized into chapters written from behavioral, psychodynamic, psychiatric, and family systems perspectives. This allows practitioners from a wide variety of philosophies to benefit from the material. I highly recommend this book to my colleagues who work with children. (Lawrence A. Dana )

Refusal to Speak embodies a rare blend of scholarly thoroughness and clinical practicality. In treating as perplexing and difficult a condition as selective mutism, it is important to gain as broad and comprehensive a view as possible. I appreciate the astute and integrative interventions described throughout the book; practitioners from a variety of clinical orientations will find a great deal of guidance within these pages. The interventions described with clarity would make excellent didactic material. Drs. Spasaro and Schaefer have woven together a superb edited volume. (Neil Bockian )

About the Author

Sheila A. Spasaro, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist with the Rockland County, New York Chapter of NYSARC, and maintains a consulting psychology practice in Dutchess County, New York. Charles E. Schaefer, Ph.D., is professor of psychology and director of the Psychological Services Center, Fairleigh Dickinson University, Hackensack, New Jersey.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 317 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc. (May 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765701251
• ISBN-13: 978-0765701251
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,615,199 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

60 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Review of Refusal to Speak, April 16, 2001

By 

Al Putman (Chandler, AZ USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Refusal to Speak: Treatment of Selective Mutism in Children (Child Therapy (Jason Aronson)) (Hardcover)

This book contains a collection of articles from the selective mutism literature up to the year 1995. With the exception of a few articles that are scientifically valid, the book is a compilation of misguided information. Even the title is misleading in that selective mutism has been defined by the American Psychiatric Association as a "failure" to speak and not a refusal to speak. Most of the new literature supporting the concept that selective mutism is an involuntary response to anxiety is absent.

55 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars refusal to speak, March 30, 2000

By 

linda gunderman (new york, new york, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Refusal to Speak: Treatment of Selective Mutism in Children (Child Therapy (Jason Aronson)) (Hardcover)

This book is a nightmare! The editors ignore current literature in a seeming effort to further misinformation about a difficult to treat disorder. They are almost as guilty of child abuse as the clinicians who "treated" June and Jennifer Gibbons: identical twins with SM, born in 1965 in England. (It was the CLINICIANS who created the 'monsters' in the girls through their ignorance!) SM is a physiologically-based anxiety disorder and as such must be treated with behavior mod. and/ or meds and COMPASSION for those afflicted!

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Be kind and helpful. See books about shyness., January 10, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Refusal to Speak: Treatment of Selective Mutism in Children (Child Therapy (Jason Aronson)) (Hardcover)

Look up books using the keyword, shyness. Here are some I found at amazon.com

Buster: The Very Shy Dog by Lisze Bechtold(Illustrator)

Let's Talk About Being Shy (The Let's Talk Library) by Marianne Johnston

J. Rooker, Manatee by Jan Haley, Paul Brent(Illustrator)

The Shy Child : A Parent's Guide to Preventing and Overcoming Shyness from Infancy to Adulthood by Philip G. Zimbardo, Shirley L. Radl

These can be helpful. The book I'm reviewing IS more HARMFUL than helpful. I didn't order it. I read it at a library. It is awful and would increase feelings of inadequacy, anger, etc. which can make a person shy.

School, insurance programs, medical programs, and so forth make a lot of money by having kids diagnosed so they can get money from the government. Remember, "the government" is our tax dollars and many of these dollars are spent unwisely!

Buy some of the other great books at amazon.com about shyness but don't get this one!