A growing number of 20- and 30-somethings suffer from juvenile amnesia in Japan. According to the Japanese media, lack of conversation is a risk factor for amnesia. Does lack of conversation affect development of brain?
Children with selective mutism don't talk while they are in school or kindergarten. They spend a lot of time there. As their mutism was prolonged, they advance to more upper grades, and they spend more time in school. For example, if they are in the fifth-sixth grade, they go to school around 8:00 and return home around 15:00 (in Japan's case). So, they spend around 7 hours in school. That's nearly a half of their waking hours.
Of course, most children don't talk at school all the time. They are not allowed to chat in class. But on the whole selectively mute children talk much less frequently than usual ones.
If growing selectively mute children's symptoms are prolonged and they continue to be mute at school for a long time, what effect does that have on their brain development? If negative effects are observed, early intervention is important.
I have an interest in it but I've not found the literature that discusses selective mutism and brain development. Doesn't it matter?
