Originally Posted by Ariana:
With nothing else present it is not. It *might* be selective mutism but that is not a developmental disability. Impulse control issues at this age are also pretty common especially in a child that has no boundaries and structure.
I agree.... I have a non-verbal 3 yr old too.
Not because of any developmental disability or because of any medical issues....just because the child refuses.
There is no boundaries, no structure, no rules and definitely no consequences for ANYTHING at home so child simply refuses to speak here because they can.
I see it more of a control issue or power struggle in my situation though because my kiddo will chit chat all day long with others when they want to but the minute any response or reply is required, the child simply clams up and won't say a thing.
I had a discussion in regards to saying "Please" and "Thank you" with the parent as the child was missing out on some things here as those words are absolutely necessary in some situations and the parent looked at me like I had 3 heads and said
"Well they don't HAVE to say Please or Thank you at home so I don't see why they HAVE to here either."
Um, yeah....
So I just go about my day and don't push any type of speaking but the child definitely misses out on a lot of things because they won't speak but until that becomes the child's issue the child is going to stay mute. By choice.
As far as the assessment goes....I inform parent but I can't make or force them have their child assessed. I wouldn't term a family for not having an assessment done unless the behavior (requiring assessment) became a danger or big issue here.
If that happened, I would term based on not being able to provide what child needs but not because parent didn't or wouldn't get an assessment done.