Outloud, The Selective Mutism Podcast

06/11/2025

100 Kind Deeds Day is coming up. If you’re new to my page or my story, I’m going to be sharing a bit about it this week.

I’m Nika. I started This Life Rocks when I was in the first grade. That was the year I was diagnosed with an anxiety disorder called selective mutism. We would later learn it was a symptom of low support needs autism, but what we knew at the time was that it was really difficult for me to self advocate or speak in school or public places. One thing I could do was share my art and kindness by painting rocks, and doing good deeds around town. That’s how things started.
On Black Friday of second grade, I hosted my first ever 100 dates today. My mom had been explaining the concept of Black Friday, when we decided that it would be nice to lean in to philanthropy on that day instead of consumerism.
This year, I’ll be hosting my eighth annual 100 Kind Deeds Day. It’s a chance for people all over the world to connect to reach out to others and to help raise money for cancer research.
It costs nothing to join us, you can do a kind deed from anywhere in the world, each kind deed will raise a one dollar donation to the conqueror cancer foundation.
Why are we raising money for cancer research? You’ll have to wait till the next post.

Please make some time to join us on November 28th, 2025. And please share this event, the algorithm is real, and we need all the help we can get. 🩷 nika

Conquer Cancer Foundation

15/09/2025

Creating a classroom environment of safety and trust is imperative if you want to support your SM student ❤️

13/09/2025

Are you trying to promote a certain behavior? Have you considered a “reward menu”? Allowing the child to choose a list of possible rewards helps motivate them. Make sure you follow through immediately to gain trust in the system.

12/09/2025

If you are not able to participate in therapy an SSRI can be helpful

11/09/2025

Selective Mutism is NOT about being stubborn

08/09/2025

Selective? Selective mutism is not a choice!

06/09/2025

Mental health struggles are NOT “bad behavior “. It’s important to know when to support your child and not use punishment for their struggles.

14/08/2025

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16xfhYsZYc/?mibextid=wwXIfr

01/08/2025

Selective Mutism is so much more than “not talking at school”. Although more teachers are aware of SM, there is still a lack of knowledge regarding the complexities of the diagnosis.

08/07/2025

SMQ=Selective Mutism Questionnaire

Assesses a parent’s perspective on their child’s behavior. At home, in school and in social settings.

29/06/2025

You don’t grow by trying to be perfect. Trying to be perfect stops us from trying.
You grow from experimenting, trying different things in different ways. Its ok to fail, the more you fail, the more you grow 🥰

18/06/2025

Explore the empowering definition of fear at https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/fear and discover its transformative potential.

Fear. Such an uncomfortable feeling. Today, I was riding a bike in Belgium and my front wheel slid as I tride to turn up onto the cobblestone curb. I wasn’t hurt, but it took awhile to feel comfortable and confident as I started again. I could feel my stomach muscles tighten whenever my bike wheel got too close to the curb. I was acutely aware of my fear of falling, each time I was a little too close to the edge of the cobblestones. I can’t imagine how it must feel day after day being fearful of what might happen. Have compassion, fear is exhausting!

an unpleasant often strong emotion caused by anticipation or awareness of danger; an instance of this emotion; a state marked by this emotion… See the full definition