Three courses

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Chapter 4 Selective mutism and my junior high school years

Three courses

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I entered η high school.

η high school consisted of three courses. Career Course, Preparatory Course and Special Preparatory Course. CC incorporated vocational training into its curriculum. PC incorporated preparatory classes into its curriculum.

SPC also incorporated preparatory classes. But unlike PC, SPC aimed to help students to go to prestigious universities. Many freshmen wanted to enrol on SPC. But not all of their wishes came true. SPC recruited only about 160 students. On the other hand, students who wanted to enroll on the course exceeded 160 every year. School selected 160 students by the marks they obtained in entrance exam. So, only high-achieving students could enroll on SPC.

I wrote my will to study in SPC in documents I submitted to the school. But when I first went to school, I realized my class was PC, not SPC.

And I was surprised to see M. M was my former female classmate. When she and I were in the sixth grade, there was a rumor that she loved me. Her class was SPC.

[First meeting of the class]

At the first meeting of the class, my homeroom teacher appeared in front of us and begun to talk about her and the class. According to her, she was a Japanese language teacher. Her age was 26. She had a husband.

She said this class was "semi SPC". First, students in the class had good academic ability next to students in SPC. Second, she had an experience of taking charge of SPC. Third, the classroom was located near SPC.

And she added we had a chance to promote to SPC in the next school year if we achieved high grades this school year. She said so because many students in the class couldn't enroll on SPC.

[Introducing myself]

A few days after I entered the high school, we students in the class introduced ourselves during homeroom. As I had selective mutism, I worried whether I could introduce myself smoothly. But I managed to do. After I finished introducing myself, my homeroom teacher said, "Tomishige once took part in the national
Shogi (Japanese Chess) Championships for junior high school. I hear Shogi players are clever. I hope you get good grade." I felt she fully expected me to get good grade. About 40 students introduced themselves, but she said such things only to me.

After homeroom, several female students came to me and said, "Tomishige, kawaii! (cute!)"

(To be continued)

Index of SM story

New book about selective mutism (Japan)

A new Japanese book about selective mutism was published on March.

The title of the book is Bamen kanmoku Q&A -Youchien ya gakkou de oshaberi dekinai kodomo tachi- (What is Selective Mutism? -How to help children who can't talk in school-)

The author is Knet, a nonprofit organization of selective mutism established in 2007. The editor is Keiko Kakuta, a clinical psychotherapist and the leader of Knet (and an acquaintance of mine).

This book is based on information exchange on the Internet. It includes many colums written by parents. Of course, it also includes information I provided on my Japanese web site The Selective Mutism Journal.

This book is written for the general public rather than specialists. So, it's easy to read. I guess this book will become a standard reference for Japanese parents, teachers and professionals who are interested in selective mutism.

Index of SM in Japan