So I've had selective mutism for several years now. For any of you who don't know what that is, it's where you only talk to certain people; in my case, those people were my mum and a few close friends I've made in recent years.
I used to talk, until bad things started happening in school that I would rather forget.
Anyways, three years ago, I was put into a special needs class. There I found a very supportive environment, teachers were helpful and classmates were pretty understanding of me.
It felt, much like this website feels, like a home.
So I decided that it would be good to start talking again.
Nothing came out.
I tried many times again.
Still nothing came out.
I got extremely frustrated with myself, like, "how do I have the support I need behind me, but I still don't speak a word even if I try?!!"
When I explained, no, more like ranted, about this to the teachers, they said, "don't worry, you'll talk when you're ready. One of these days. "
Over the following months and years, I managed to say simple 'yes' and 'no' words to the teachers, and started talking to my close friends (each of whom happen to be aspies).
I would sometimes have dreams at night in which I started speaking in the class, to the surprise of everyone.
Well one week ago, those dreams became real.
A teacher asked a question to me and I, rather than do my usual nod or writing 'yes' on a little whiteboard I use to communicate, said 'yes' pretty clearly.
The whole class exploded into cheers.
I thought, "this isn't another dream is it??" and shut my eyes, thinking that when I opened them, maybe it was just another wonderful dream and I would wake up in my bed at home. But when I opened my eyes back up, I was still at school, and people were still cheering me on.
Then came the sudden realization of, "oh my gosh, I finally did it!"
At the time of writing this, I am saying small things to people in class. It isn't full blown sentences yet, but I can feel that pretty darn soon I will talk quite a lot.
I used to talk, until bad things started happening in school that I would rather forget.
Anyways, three years ago, I was put into a special needs class. There I found a very supportive environment, teachers were helpful and classmates were pretty understanding of me.
It felt, much like this website feels, like a home.
So I decided that it would be good to start talking again.
Nothing came out.
I tried many times again.
Still nothing came out.
I got extremely frustrated with myself, like, "how do I have the support I need behind me, but I still don't speak a word even if I try?!!"
When I explained, no, more like ranted, about this to the teachers, they said, "don't worry, you'll talk when you're ready. One of these days.
"Over the following months and years, I managed to say simple 'yes' and 'no' words to the teachers, and started talking to my close friends (each of whom happen to be aspies).
I would sometimes have dreams at night in which I started speaking in the class, to the surprise of everyone.
Well one week ago, those dreams became real.
A teacher asked a question to me and I, rather than do my usual nod or writing 'yes' on a little whiteboard I use to communicate, said 'yes' pretty clearly.
The whole class exploded into cheers.
I thought, "this isn't another dream is it??" and shut my eyes, thinking that when I opened them, maybe it was just another wonderful dream and I would wake up in my bed at home. But when I opened my eyes back up, I was still at school, and people were still cheering me on.
Then came the sudden realization of, "oh my gosh, I finally did it!"
At the time of writing this, I am saying small things to people in class. It isn't full blown sentences yet, but I can feel that pretty darn soon I will talk quite a lot.
