Navigating through the world with selective mutism is not for the faint of heart. No way, José. It takes a special kind of someone to choose to be silent while noise engulfs them. Unfortunately, I am that special kind of someone. 

I don’t recall a specific moment when I made the choice. The choice to stay quiet, even when people were rightfully expecting me to speak. It just came on…naturally, I think. At home with Grandma Hazel and Waverley White, I spoke, no problem. I read my favorite books out loud to both of them every night, and even tried my best to say the hard words that would come up in the texts. In the safety of home, my voice rang out freely. 

But outside, with the rest of the world, all I had to offer was silence. 

My lack of vocalizing was so bad that in kindergarten the school threatened to hold me back because I wasn’t “developing the right way”. 

Wrong—I was developing my way. At least, that’s what Grandma Hazel told them in my defense. 

They forced me to go to speech therapy anyway.