User:Bay15/Muteness

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Muteness or mutism is an inability to speak, often caused by a speech disorder or surgery. Someone who is mute may be so due to the unwillingness to speak in certain social situations.

Causes
Those who are physically mute may have problems with the parts of the human body required for human speech (vocal cords, lungs, trachea, esophagus, mouth, or tongue, etc.).

Trauma or injury to Broca's area, located in the left inferior frontal cortex of the brain, can cause muteness.

Variations
Selective mutism previously known as "elective mutism" is an anxiety disorder very common among young children, characterized by the inability to speak in certain situations. It should not be confused with someone who is mute and cannot communicate due to physical disabilities. Selectively mute children are able to communicate in situations in which they feel comfortable. About 90% of children with this disorder have also been diagnosed with social anxiety. It is very common for symptoms to occur before the age of five and do not have a set time period. Not all children express the same symptoms. Some may stand motionless and freeze in specific social settings and have no communication.

Alalia is a disorder that refers to a delay in the development of speaking abilities in children. In severe cases, some children never learn how to speak. It can be caused by illness of the child, illness in utero, mutism of the parents or guardians, the general disorders of the muscles, the shyness of the child, and certain genetic disorders, among other causes.

Anarthria is a severe form of dysarthria. The coordination of movements of the mouth and tongue or the conscious coordination of the lungs are damaged.

Aphasia can rob all aspects of the speech and language. It is a damage of the cerebral centres of the language.

Aphonia is the inability to produce any voice. In severe cases the patient loses phonation. It is caused by the injury, paralysis, and illness of the larynx.

Conversion disorder can cause loss of speaking ability.

Feral children grow up outside of human society, and so usually struggle in learning any language.

Some people with autism never learn to speak.

Most intellectually disabled children learn to speak, except the severe cases (IQ 20-25). Children with Down syndrome often have impaired language and speech.

Hearing mutism is an obsolete term used in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century for specific language impairment.

Akinetic mutism is a state in which the individual is unable to speak or move.