Semester of Graduation

Spring 2025

Degree

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

Intro: It is difficult to distinguish between typical bilingual communication behaviors and those of monolinguals with communication disorders. One difficulty is distinguishing between a silent period and selective mutism. A silent period refers to a relatively brief period of time during which a bilingual refuses to speak in unfamiliar language contexts. Selective mutism refers to a refusal to speak for a long period of time in any language context. The purpose of this study is to disentangle selective mutism from a silent period for a 4 year 10-month-old Spanish English bilingual female.

Methods: This study will include questionnaires, and seven speech language assessments administered either nonverbally, in Spanish, or in English to measure the participant’s language, articulation, and cognitive abilities.

Results: When the participant was administered assessments which accepted English only responses the receptive and expressive results were below the normal range. When the participant was administered assessments which utilized conceptual scoring the participant’s receptive skills were within the normal range while expressive skills were below the average range.

Conclusion: There was not enough assessment data to determine whether the participant was experiencing a silent period or selective mutism at the commencement of therapy; however, past assessments indicate that the participant was experiencing an expressive and receptive language disorder in English. The participant does not currently demonstrate characteristics that are traditionally exhibited by bilingual children experiencing a silent period nor does the participant exhibit the expressive deficits and severity of symptoms that a child with selective mutism would typically demonstrate. The participant does currently demonstrate characteristics that are typical for a bilingual child with a language delay or disorder. The participant’s social development has continued to increase over the course of therapy while the participant’s language development has remained delayed.

Date

3-25-2025

Committee Chair

Gibson, Todd

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