In selective mutism, a child voluntarily abstains from talking in paicular situations (usually at school) while remaining appropriately verbal at home. Some children only speak with their parents and siblings and are mute with relatives and friends. Children with selective mutism do not have a language impediment, nor do they display the lack of social interactions, lack of imagination, and g behavior characteristic of autism. On the contrary, they can be quite interactive and communicative in a nonverbal way, using drawing, writing, and pantomime. Children with school phobia refuse to go to school but do not have problems communicating through language. Oppositional defiant disorder is characterized by persistent refusal to follow rules and defiance toward authorities, not by failure to speak.