"The reason that Jade's case had caught my eye was that for the better part of the previous ten years, from college right through my work at the Sandry Clinic, my special research interest had been elective mutism. Fascinated by this disturbance, in which an individual is physically and intellectually capable of speaking normally but refuses to do so for psychological reasons, I had worked with these children extensively."
Chap. 1, p. 9

"The first morning was hell."
Chap. 2, p. 13

"Toilet trained he may have been, but twice he whipped down his pants and peed into the trash can beside the bookshelf."
Chap. 2, p. 14

"Jadie might as well have been a ghost. No one spoke to her, looked at her, or even acknowledged her presence in the room."
Chap. 2, p. 19

"After all, it wasn't the act of speaking that should get the attention, it's what people said that was important...