ContentA Brief History. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Part I Theoretical Approaches . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211 What is (Selective) Mutism?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221.1 Definition and Manifestation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221.2 Diagnostic Criteria. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 241.3 Types of Mutism. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 261.4 Epidemiology, Co-Morbidity and Risk Factors . . . . . . . . . . . 281.5 A Contribution to Aetiology: Why Are Children Silent?The Failure to Overcome Unfamiliarity. 332 Linguistic and Developmental-Psychological Approaches -How Speaking and (Selective) Silence Develop . 362.1 Why a Developmental-Psychological Approach?. . . . . . . . . . 362.2 Language Acquisition and Language Development -Social-Interactive Position . 382.2.1 Communication and Dialogue Structures - How Is Communication Learned? . 392.2.2 Triangular Processes - Being Able to Deal with Requirements. 432.2.3 Internal Mental Representation -The Power of Imagination and Evaluation . 472.2.4 Symbolisation and Narrative Organisation -Acquisition of Narrative Skills. 502.2.5 Separation of Internal and External Dialogue - Conversation Strategies. 532.2.6 Internalised Values - Regulating Behaviour (= Mentalising) . 552.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57Part II Diagnostics and Therapy Coordination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 591 Diagnostic Surveys - How Can (Selective) Mutism be Recorded?. 602 Setting and Case Management - Who, What, Where, When and What for?. 653 Survey of Data Relevant to Therapy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68Part III Therapeutic Approaches and Efficacious Treatments. . . . . 791 Therapeutic Attitude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 801.1 Exert Pressure or Use Laissez Faire? -Planning the Therapeutic Relationship as a \"Scaffolding\" Principle. 811.2 Relationship Design and Motivation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 821.3 Models, Techniques, Training Programmes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 871.4 Integrative Principles for Therapeutic Work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 882 Therapy Planning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 912.1 Clarification of the Tasks of the Treatment -Dealing with Ambiguous Messages. 912.2 Separation from Attachment Figures -Mum Waits Outside!. 952.3 Safe Place -The Safe Place as a Starting Point . 992.4 Strengthening the \"Alter Ego\" - \"Prove to Me that I\'m Okay the Way I Am!\". 1052.5 Perseverance - Working without Response. 109Part IV Communicating Non-Verbally. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1111 Constructing Communicative Behaviour - \"Turn-taking\". 1122 Working with Puppets and Transitional Objects - A Hut for the Bear . 1143 The Fairytale Book with Speech Bubbles - \"Howl, Boom, Sigh ...\". 1184 Language Therapies - Building Language without Speaking. 1215 Symbolisation and Narrative Processing - Narration without Language. 1255.1 The Symbolic Game as Therapeutic Intervention. . . . . . . . . . 1255.2 The Relevance of Symbolic Play in Therapy. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1275.3 The Therapeutic Role in Symbolic Play. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1295.4 Digression: Developmental Diagnosis of Symbolic Play . . . .