5 YEAR OLD BEHAVIOUR

MY SON IS FIVE YEAR OLD. HE JUST STARTED KINDERGARTEN IN SEP. BUT HE HASN'T SPOKEN A WORD IN HIS SCHOOL YET. AND EVEN TO THE GUESTS AT HOME HE DOES NOT SAY ANY WORD. IN THE FAMILY WITH HIS SISTERS HE IS JUST FINE. NOW THE TEACHERS ARE SAYING WE ARE GONNA HAVE TO GET HIM TO START TALKING AND WE HAVE DONE ALMOST EVERYTHING WE COULD THINK OF AND EVEN TO US HE SAYS THAT HE WILL TALK TO HIS TEACHER AND ALL THAT BUT AS SOON AS HE IS INFRONT OF HIS TEACHER HE JUST GOES QUIETAND WHICH REALLY WORRIES US. WHAT WE COULD OR SHOULD DO TO CHANGE HIS THIS HABBIT.

[RockRose]

This is called "selective mutism".  

You'll want to print out information and give it to his teachers,  so they might understand better:

http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/SelectiveMutism.htm

[Dr_Steven_Kurtz]

You should certainly look into selective mutism as a possibility. The SMG-CAN is a not-for-profit devoted to helping families with selective mutism www.selectivemutism.org. They will be co-hosting the annual SM Conference with my organization, the Child Mind Institute www.childmind.org on 10/28/2011. Please check out our websites for more information.

We also run a really cool program called Brave Buddies - a weeklong analog class/camp for kids with SM http://www.childmind.org/en/clinics/programs/brave-buddies

good luck,
Dr Kurtz