Monday, February 20, 2012

Children with SM in evacuation centers

Great earthquake and tsunami hit north-east Japan in March 2011, and myriad of people forced to live in evacuation centers. Evacuees must have included children with selective mutism. How did they spend their daily time?


Selective mutism is an anxiety disorder characterized by persistent failure to speak in unfamiliar social settings and to unfamiliar people. Typically they are children and can not utter words at schools although they speak normally at their homes.

Evacuation centers were unfamiliar settings for selectively mute children. A typical evacuation center was set up at a gymnasium or a community center. In many cases there were cubicles that separate living space. But  such cubicles were not necessarily placed. So, many selectively mute children must have been surrounded with unfamiliar people.

Images of evacuation centers in Japan
(new window open)

On the other hand, in many cases, children in evacuation centers lived with their families without cubicles. I suppose they spent a lot of their time close to their families. In other words, they were together with their familiar people.

So, how did the environment affect the children? It is not clear, because nobody researches it.
I suppose one possibility is that they were mute all day long because they were surrounded with unfamiliar people. If so, I feel a pang of sympathy for them. Another possibility is that they spoke freely because they were always with their families. A third possibility is the middle of the first and second possibility. In other words, they spoke a little.

I hope such complex environment helps children to desensitize unfamiliar social setting and people.