Virginia Tech gunman 'had selective mutism'

The Virginia Tech student who killed 32 people and himself on campus in April had been treated in high school for a mental disorder that left him unable to speak in public, according to newspaper reports.

But the university was never told about the condition.

A Fairfax County high school had developed a detailed special education plan that excused Seung-Hui Cho from class participation to ease his fears so he might begin to talk more openly, The Washington Post newspaper reported.

The disorder, called selective mutism, could explain why Cho was a loner during his four years at the Blacksburg, Virginia university, remaining a mystery even to his roommates.

Professors have said he would not answer when called on in class.

"Think of the image of the little kid at the end of the diving board, just frozen. They can't move no matter how much we tell them to jump," Robert Schum, a clinical psychologist and expert in selective mutism, told the Post.

"In a classroom, they feel threatened. They're trapped. And the more people push, the more it exacerbates the anxiety."

Unless Cho himself had disclosed the disorder, first reported by The Wall Street Journal last week, privacy laws would deny the university access to information about his therapy.