ABSTRACT
The adolescent patients described in this paper do not naturally talk, open up, or express themselves, neither with their parents nor with their therapists. Though they might like to be able to speak up, and might try, they are not good at it or cannot find a way for it to feel comfortable in therapy. Answering questions is easier, but the answers are usually brief. Initiating conversations, with a therapist or with their parents, is hard. They do not usually resent having to be in therapy, though it would have been easier not to come. They are not on the autistic spectrum. They just do not know what to say or how to get into a conversation. They might know how to talk with their friends more easily.
