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Practitioner Review: Psychosocial interventions for children with selective mutism: a critical evaluation of the literature from 1990–2005
Author(s) -
Cohan Sharon L.,
Chavira Denise A.,
Stein Murray B.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of child psychology and psychiatry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.652
H-Index - 211
eISSN - 1469-7610
pISSN - 0021-9630
DOI - 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2006.01662.x
Subject(s) - psychology , psycinfo , psychosocial , psychological intervention , cognitive behavioral therapy , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , cognition , developmental psychology , medline , psychiatry , political science , law
Background: There have been several reports of successful psychosocial interventions for children with selective mutism (SM), a disorder in which a child consistently fails to speak in one or more social settings (e.g., school) despite speaking normally in other settings (e.g., home). The present literature review was undertaken in order to provide an up‐to‐date summary and critique of the SM treatment literature published in the past fifteen years. Methods: PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases were searched to identify SM treatment studies published in peer‐reviewed journals between 1990 and 2005. Results: A total of 23 studies were included in the present review. Of these, ten used a behavioral/cognitive behavioral approach, one used a behavioral language training approach, one used a family systems approach, five used a psychodynamic approach, and six used multimodal approaches to SM treatment. Conclusions: Although much of this literature is limited by methodological weaknesses, the existing research provides support for the use of behavioral and cognitive‐behavioral interventions. Multimodal treatments also appear promising, but the essential components of these interventions have yet to be established. An outline of a cognitive‐behavioral treatment package for a typical SM child is provided and the review concludes with suggestions for future research.