Sorry I've been MIA for a few weeks. My dh was laid off (which sucks), but on a positive note he's been able to take care of the kids while I finished my book!
I figured that it would be ok to post about it here since it's a very specialized topic and there's a good chance that it's not a book that you will all be rushing to buy.
https://www.SelectiveMutismBook.com
My 7 year old son has Selective Mutism (SM). It's a severe social anxiety disorder in which he does not speak to anyone outside our family. He goes mute. He's in 2nd grade and over the course of pre-k, k, 1st and 2nd grade he has still never spoken to another child. Yet at home his mouth doesn't stop!
He's smart and silly and just like every other child...except he stops speaking outside our home. SM is just as common as Autism (7/1000) but due to lack of awareness, many people don't know about it.
Anyway, there are virtually no chidren's books on the market that are for kids with this disorder. A book that lets them know that they're not alone and that it's ok to be who they are. There are tons of book for parents, but not for the children themselves.
Anyway, long story short, I finally finished my book! I'm so excited! I'm officially a published author...little 'ol me!
It's been a ton of work writing, editing, photography, photo editing, design, layout, publishing etc... but I'm very proud of how it came out.
Just wanted to share my good news and to let other moms know that you CAN follow your dream!! Don't let your own personal goals "slip away" just because you don't leave your house to go to work.
Re: I published a book!
That is so awesome!! I love books that focus on a special topic like this. DD#1 has Aspergers and so much info is lumped in with Autism. I found it so overwhelming to weed out the info that doesn't apply to what we are dealing with. I understand that Aspergers is a part of the autism spectrum (that is how it was explained to us), but so many sources deal with the extremes of autism and that was/is frustrating when DD#1 isn't that "advanced" (for lack of a better word). I was able to find some books, it just took a while to sort through all the info!
Good for you for doing this!!
DD#1~8/17/96------DS~10/24/05
Speaking of Asperger's, there are actually a lot of similarities with Selective Mutism and Aspergers. We thought for awhile that our son had Aspergers, but apparently children with Aspergers do not have a speech delay and my son was speech delayed... but there are similarities and sometimes I wonder if SM should be part of the Autism Spectrum. I guess there is still so much to learn about all these conditions. And you're right, it's hard to find info about specific disorders...esp that you can read to your child to help them understand what's going on inside them. Thanks for sharing your story.
Thank you everyone for your support!!
You rock! Congrats and best wishes.
That's excellent - congratulations!
I had a girl in my class who didn't speak except at home. Sometime around 7th grade she changed schools but I always wondered what happened to her. I never knew this was a social disorder and that there were others like her. Guess you really do learn something new every day!