A bravely went through the assessment motions, doing all of the non verbal tasks assigned to her by the nurse with consummate ease while E roamed the room and attempted to join in too, providing a running commentary as she went “E drawing! E’s turn, E hop too!”, prompting a bemused nurse to state the very obvious “You have two very bright little girls on your hands don’t you?“

And then there was the dreaded verbal bit and as anticipated A had not thus far talked to the nurse.  However in a flash of insight I suggested to the nurse that mr hissychick  run through the exercises with her, things along the lines of getting A to repeat a fairly complex sentence and to complete statements such as “Ice is cold, fire is..” and so on, while we pretended we weren’t paying any attention. A happily obliged, however the instant the nurse turned to face her she would stop.

And all this time there was E, climbing into my lap and shrieking “Daddy loook! Mummy look!”. Grinning at the nurse and once her attention was gained squealing “Lookitme! E jumping!” before launching off my lap in a gleefuly unselfconscious and classic display of extroverted behaviour.

If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry, insert your own cliche and all that.

We have been referred for further assessment.  It is not a case of won’t, A simply can’t talk in certain situations and we need to know why, and, equally if not more importantly, what we can do about it.

Darling, we believe you. We will do our best to ensure that you are not afraid anymore.