Losing speech temporarily

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I couldn't talk for maybe a minute or less... I know it doesn't sound like anything to worry about... I'm sick and I was sick the last time this happened. But I can't help worrying; what if this happens more? What if this happens when I'm not sick? What if it lasts longer? What if it lasts forever?

It seems like speech cuts out for me when my body is under some stress. It's happened twice when I haven't been sick-- once after breaking a finger, once while melting down from easily the most traumatic thing that's ever happened to me. (But the latter was only emotional stress... so I guess there doesn't have to be anything wrong with my body.)

Not exactly the most reassuring thing in the world.

It's happened to me three times this past month, in two different ways. The first two times were for a couple of hours each, and the last time was for nearly a full day.

I sympathize with your worries.

One thing I was advised was when speech cuts out, try just making noises. I think this helped me on two of those occasions. On the third occasion I was able to speak, but not in a way in which I could really communicate, so making noises didn't help... and it lasted much longer, so hmm.

It happens to me sometimes when I have an argument with my husband. At those moments I feel like a goldfish out of the bowl .
It is stress.
It goes by. When I relax a bit it goes away. I know: relaxing is easier said than done.

It happens to me under stress. I leave it alone - it'll come back when it's ready.

Happens during a shut down. It is scary the first time but they usually don't occur that many times in autism.
The stress really has to be great for it to happen.
I get it happening a lot because of other issues.

Yep, happens to me too. Anytime the stress level gets too high, it gets harder to speak. Well, more like, "I can't conceive of speaking," than "I try and I can't," but the phenomenon's a known one. For me, it helps to write things out in my head and then read them off to say them. But of course the best remedy is keeping stress low to begin with.

It's called selective mutism, and it's pretty common amongst autistics, from what I hear.

It hasn't happened to me recently (as far as I know... I don't talk much these days), but it used to happen quite frequently.

It happens to me too and I believe it's caused by stress. I usually turn mute during meltdowns and conflicts and when confronted harshly. I get my speech back once the level of stress reduces.

This is very annoying and inconvenient.

Raises hand...

If I'm a little too excited about answering a question, where I have exactly the right detail and phrasing all lined up and ready to deliver - it fails. I simply lose the power of speech and can't even find a few words to indicate to the other person what's happening.
Or if an argument or disagreement gets too heated. Speech just stops functioning.
If I'm really lucky, I manage to go "Gmmph" or "Aghmm" instead.

Only lasts ten seconds or so and I try to get past it ASAP.
If it lasted any longer then that would be a different thing altogether.

It used to be called 'Elective mutism' ... my brother never said a single word to anybody outside his immediate family until he was 10. He saw a child psychiatrist once a fortnight for 5 years - and never said a word to her. He had absolutely no difficulty talking within the family, even in the presence of other people. If they spoke to him he would just gaze at them until they "gave up".

So why was the label changed to 'Selective mutism'?

'Selective mutism' is an expansion of the label 'Elective mutism' to include non-elective mutisms ... mutisms in which the person is not consciously aware of why they are not speaking.

My brother described his sessions with his psychiatrist as "An interesting battle of wills."

Oh, and, by the way ... despite never saying a single word to anybody at school he was top of the class.

He is now a member of Mensa, plays chess internationally ... but works as a maintenance man.

No it's called selective mutism because it's now known to be not elective (on purpose) at all.

And really it's supposed to apply to an anxiety disorder. Not autistic speech shutdown. It's just some people like Tony Attwood started using it wrong and everyone else followed. It's irritating because the way you solve each one bears no resemblance to each other, nor does the cause.

Singing helps.

the older i get, the more often it happens. and the duration is longer. and it takes less to provoke it

ain't in school or work. no precious lil "friends".

even simple and easy communication is getting worse and worse. harder and harder.

talking seems so useless.

"actions speak louder than words".

Toastmaters charges $$ for grammatical errors. otherwise maybe i would join.

It has happened to me, but only for a few minutes at a time. The few times it happened have all been caused by either shock/physical pain (more the shock of having hurt myself than the actual pain, I think) or strong emotions.

Each time, people have forced me to talk as soon as I could (wanting to know what happened etc.), and each time my voice was very raspy, and I could only string a few words together.

It happens to me a lot. For me it is completely situational and it is a stress or anxiety response. I call it situational mutism because that is an accurate description. It's not permanent. You don't have to worry about that. Sometimes it lasts a few minutes for me but I have had it last up to six months in one particular situation. When it happens to me, I don't worry about it. Because it is a response to stress and anxiety, worrying about it just adds more stress and anxiety. I just either write down what I want to say to others on a note pad or use ASL. Once I have relaxed enough and the anxiety and stress are reduced, my speech comes back on its own. I just expect everyone else around me to deal with it. I do not try to force myself to speak because that just causes more stress. I can also become mute when I am overwhelmed or overstimulated even if I am not anxious. It's the same response. Again, I expect everyone else to just deal with it and I just write or sign if I have to. But even then, I only write or sign if I absolutely have to. I try to just rest and not communicate at all if I can. Letting my brain rest helps me to recover quickly.

Situational or selective mutism, however you want to call it, is not something to be afraid of. I know it feels scary when you are not used to it because you feel like you have lost control and you never know how long it will last. But if you just know that it is a pretty normal thing for many Autistics, you can just try to relax and not worry and know that your speech will come back as soon as your brain resets it. Once you are no longer feeling the high anxiety or stress levels, your brain will reset your speech.

I also carry a little home made card in my wallet and I have in my Road ID alert bracelet profile and on my Autism phone apps that lets people know that I am sometimes mute because of my Autism. That way I can just show these things and people understand. I have never met anyone, except my mother, who has ever had a problem with this happening to me. My mother has her own issues but that's another story.

I go mute on a semi-regular basis, usually when I'm anxious, in sensory overload, or after a meltdown. It usually lasts at least an hour for me, but I've had it last all day before. I use an iPad with text to speech on it when I can't communicate. It's uncomfortable and frustrating when it happens, but you just have to be patient because forcing it only makes things worse.

I wear a medical alert bracelet to let first responders know about my autism, and it says on it that I may not speak, so they know not to expect a response from me in those instances.