This blog article was written on the request of a speech and language therapist, who asked me if I had any information on people with ASD who have difficulty expressing themselves verbally (but who have good language skills). She noted that, in times of anxiety/stress, these people could communicate through written language, despite the term ‘selective mutism’ being used to describe them.
It is quite easy to understand why people with ASD may be selectively mute and why they might become non verbal when they feel anxious or stressed. In autism, where there are already problems processing social information inside the brain, in times of stress, this processing will deteriorate and may lead to a person not being able to speak. I would imagine that by shutting off the ability to speak, the demands on the brain are reduced. It is a sort of protection mechanism and helps us deal with stress.
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