Has anyone ever heard of this? I never have, but I stumbled across it while googling shyness in preschoolers.

My 4 year old daughter is really shy. At home and around some people she knows well she is a total chatterbox. It's mostly around adults she doesn't know well, and even some that she does know well that she doesn't talk. If they talk to her she will sometimes respond by shaking or nodding her head, other times she just stares at well-intentioned strangers with a rather embarrassing dead-pan look.

She has been going to the same home daycare since she was 2. She plays and talks happily to the other kids, but she doesn't speak to her teacher at all. Her teacher says she can hear her chattering away with the other kids. She communicates with her nonverbally, and it seems to work out pretty well, but she doesn't say a word. She also gets REALLY embarrassed and upset if the teacher reprimands her at all.

She's about to start a new preschool, and I'm worried about how she's going to do. She's fine with the kids at her school now, but she's known them for a long time. It is a small school with one teacher, who has plenty of time to pay attention to her. They've developed their own system of communication, and her friends often help by "translating" for her. The new school is bigger - more kids and more teachers.

So then today I came across this "selective mutism" term, which I've never heard of, but describes her "symptoms". To me, it just sounds kinda like bullshit, but there are all these websites devoted to the "serious psychological disorder," or "rare childhood anxiety disorder." It also says most children who have it have at least one parent with an anxiety disorder, which my husband does.

The funny thing is, I wasn't that worried about her until now. I just thought she was shy, and was hoping it was a phase.

Any thoughts?