Unknown to Va. Tech, Cho Had a Disorder

Classmates from Stone Middle School in Centreville remember some students making fun of Cho and his silence.

"He never tried to say anything," former classmate Sam Linton said. "Even when the teachers called roll, he wouldn't say 'Present' or raise his hand. He just looked straight ahead. Someone else would have to say 'Seung's here.' "

By the time Cho entered Westfield High School in Chantilly, classmate Chris Davids remembers an uncomfortable sophomore English class. Students were taking turns reading aloud from works of Shakespeare. When it was Cho's turn, he sat in silence. The teacher began to cajole him. Silence. Students began to snicker. The teacher became angry. Silence. She threatened him with an F. Finally, Cho began to read in a strange mumble.

"That snickering turned to full-out laughing," Davids said. "There were several comments made, such as 'Go Back to ESL' -- English as a Second Language class -- 'Learn how to read,' or 'Go back to China.' "

Not long after that incident, Fairfax school officials realized that Cho was not merely painfully shy. Nor was he being recalcitrant or passive-aggressive. He was literally too paralyzed to speak. They put him in special education and devised a number of accommodations to help him, sources said. School officials said Cho would no longer be required to answer teachers' questions or participate in classroom discussions. Davids said that he does not recall Cho ever being called on after that incident.

Cho was also given speech therapy. His parents were encouraged to put him in private counseling, which they did. School officials suggested that Cho join school clubs. He joined the band, where students soon began referring to him derisively as "trombone boy." He also joined the science club.

Davids, another member of the science club, said that although Cho came to many of the club's meetings and hung out, he never spoke. "The teacher who was the sponsor for the club would ask him if he wanted to participate in whatever we were doing, then leave him alone," Davids said. "If he wanted to participate, he would come over and do so; otherwise, he would just sit at a desk and stare at the desk."

Although most students are given special education services because their disability makes it more difficult for them to do well academically, that is generally not the case with selective mutism, Schum said. Indeed, classmates remember Cho as intelligent and capable of getting good grades.

Fairfax school officials would not speak about Cho directly, citing privacy laws. They said, however, that a team of psychologists had studied selective mutism in detail, worked with several children and felt it had made "significant progress" with the students.

Ellie Barnes, director of student services for the Fairfax schools, said the best treatment for the disorder includes private counseling to unearth the emotional issues or anxiety that is causing it. The county complements that with "desensitization therapy," exposing children to their phobia in small increments "so they can understand the irrationalization of that phobia."

But none of that care and level of detail was transferred to Virginia Tech.

Richard Crowley, coordinator of guidance services for Fairfax, said high schools generally send transcripts to colleges with only a student's courses, grades and test scores. Race, sex, religion and even the number of times a student has been suspended are considered optional pieces of information that a student can choose to disclose. The only way college officials could tell if a student had been in special education would be by looking at the classes the student took. Basic Skills is a fairly common special education class.