About this course

Learning Objectives

• Define Selective Mutism (SM) and common symptom presentations.
• Explain the etiology and conceptualization of SM.
• Identify 3 recommended strategies to increase assessment success with youth with SM.
• Identify 3 types of appropriate accommodations for older children and teens with SM.
• Identify 3 potential areas of goals for older children and teens with SM.
• List 3 Child Directed Interaction (CDI) Skills to aid warm up time and build rapport/comfort with tweens/teens.
• List 3 Verbalization Directed Interaction (VDI) skills to use with older youth with SM.
• Describe 3 effective prompting sequences to promote verbalization in tweens/teens with SM.
• Identify when to use shaping with youth with SM.
• Describe a typical progression of speech goals with tweens/teens with SM.
• Identify 4 steps to follow when implementing stimulus fading with adult or peer communication partners in older youth with SM.
• Define why positive reinforcement is a necessary component of treatment for adolescents with SM.
• Provide 3 developmentally-appropriate examples of rewards for tweens/teens with SM.
• Create 3 goals for the classroom with older youth with SM.
• Identify several methods of discussing SM in the tween/teen classroom.
• List 3 suggestions about how to address your concerns about SM with your older student’s caregivers.

Learning Levels

• Beginner

Target Audience

Course Instructor(s)

• 

  Brittany Bice-Urbach

  Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist

  Dr. Bice-Urbach is an Associate Professor in the Department of Pediatrics at the Medical College of Wisconsin and has been working as a clinical psychologist at the Center for Child Development, a developmental clinic through Children’s Wisconsin. Dr. Bice-Urbach has a specialty in best practices in providing telebehavioral health services. Dr. Bice-Urbach also has a clinical specialty in treating children and adolescents with anxiety disorders through cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) with a primary focus on treating children with Selective Mutism. At the Center for Child Development, she has been offering assessment, individual therapy, group therapy, and family/school consultation and training to support children with Selective Mutism. She is a board member of the Selective Mutism Association and has given several national presentations on Selective Mutism. She also has prioritized trainings for medical facilities and pediatricians on Selective Mutism.

• 

  Rachel Busman, Psy.D., ABPP

  Senior Director, Child & Adolescent Anxiety and Related Disorders Program, Cognitive Behavioral Consultants

  Rachel Busman, PsyD, ABPP is the senior director of the Child and Adolescent Anxiety and Related Disorders Center at Cognitive Behavioral Consultants. She was previously the director of the Anxiety Disorders Center and Selective Mutism Service at the Child Mind Institute. She ran Brave Buddies, an intensive treatment program for SM for many years. Dr. Busman is the former president of the Selective Mutism Association, the nation’s largest network of professionals, families, and individuals with selective mutism.

  Dr. Busman has extensive experience providing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to children, teenagers and young adults struggling with anxiety disorders, school difficulties and behavioral problems. She also has specific interest and expertise in the evaluation and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, separation anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder and specific phobias. She is certified in PCIT-SM and has lectured widely on this topic. She trains others through the SMA and is passionate about her work with children and families.

• 

  Emily Laracy, M.A., M.S., CCC-SLP

  Speech Language Pathologist

  Emily (Doll) Laracy, M.A., M.S., CCC-SLP, is a licensed school-based speech-language pathologist. Her caseload includes students in grades K-5 with a variety of social, emotional, cognitive, and academic needs, including students with selective mutism. Emily has worked in several intensive treatment programs for children with SM, and is the author of the book, ''Treating Selective Mutism as a Speech-Language Pathologist.'' She has been an invited presenter at local, state, and national conferences on the topic of SM, is the author of several webinars, and often provides education and training to school districts and professional organizations about how to meet the needs of children with SM. Her professional interests are in helping children with anxiety and communication needs find the tools to communicate effectively with those around them.

• 

  Eleanor Ezell, LCSW

  Owner, Child and Family Therapy Collective

  Eleanor Ezell, LCSW, is a licensed therapist in Tennessee and is the Founder and Clinical Director at Child and Family Therapy Collective based in Nashville, TN. She has extensive experience providing evidence-based therapy to children and young teens who struggle with selective mutism, anxiety, ADHD and disruptive behavior disorders, and a wide range of developmental delays.

  She attended New York University for graduate training where she trained with and worked very closely with Dr. Steven Kurtz over 5 years treating children with selective mutism and related disorders. She completed a two-year Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship at The University of Mississippi Medical Center where she also was personally grand funded to bring PCIT-SM and the Brave Buddies/Mighty Mouth Kids Camp model to the state of Mississippi. In the last 10 years, she has participated in, or replicated, intensive treatment in New York, California, Mississippi and soon will replicate in Tennessee. Eleanor currently runs the selective mutism program at her Child and Family Therapy Collective in Nashville, TN where she offers weekly sessions, individual intensives and intensive group model treatment.

• 

  Jami Furr, PhD

  Florida International University

  Dr. Jami Furr is a Clinical Associate Professor and Senior Psychologist in the Mental Health Interventions and Novel Therapeutics (MINT) Program, and Developer of the Selective Mutism Program at Florida International University Center for Children and Families (CCF). Dr. Furr obtained her doctorate in clinical psychology from Temple University, and completed her clinical internship and postdoctoral fellowship at the NYU Child Study Center and Bellevue Hospital Program in New York. Dr. Furr currently serves as a Trainer for the Network for Expanding Child Wellness in Disaster-Affected Youth (or NEW DAY) - a SAMHSA-funded and National Child Traumatic Stress Network affiliated program providing largescale training and consultation in disaster mental health to youth-serving professionals in disaster-hit regions and disaster-prone regions across the United States. Dr. Furr has extensive clinical expertise and research interests in cognitive and behavioral treatments of childhood anxiety and disruptive behavior disorders, with a particular focus on preschool mental health. She has served as the Clinical Director of several federally funded randomized trials evaluating the acceptability and utility of telehealth strategies for expanding the scope and reach of mental health care; and currently provides training and supervision for clinical services for anxiety, OCD, and/or disruptive behavior problems for children and adolescents. Dr. Furr also has led the field of selective mutism in youth regarding clinical and research programs. She is the Past-President of the Selective Mutism Association and has continued to serve on their Board of Directors for the last 7 years. Dr. Furr is currently conducting one of the first long-term outcome studies on children with selective mutism. She has numerous publications and conducts trainings locally and nationally in the areas of trauma, anxiety, and selective mutism in youth. In 2019, Dr. Furr was the recipient of the Anne Marie Albano Early Career Award for the Integration of Science and Practice from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (ABCT) and the Florida International University College of Arts, Sciences, and Education Award for Research.

• 

  Taylor Hicks-Hoste, LP, NCSP

  Psychologist

  Taylor Hicks-Hoste is a licensed psychologist (LP) in the states of Michigan and California, as well as a Nationally Certified School Psychologist (NCSP). She received her Ph.D. in school psychology from Michigan State University. Her professional experiences span across both school and clinic settings. As a school psychologist, she has serviced students, families and teachers, grades preschool through twelfth grade. She has also worked as a countywide behavioral health consultant, in which she has partnered with local districts in the promotion of mental health awareness and in the direct provision of school-based mental health supports to students. Taylor’s clinical work at Thriving Minds in Michigan includes the treatment of children, teens, and families with an emphasis on anxiety-based disorders such as selective mutism, separation anxiety, and school refusal.

• 

  Katelyn Reed, MS, LLP

  Limited Licensed Psychologist, Selective Mutism Program Director

  Katelyn Reed, M.S. is a Limited Licensed Psychologist at Thriving Minds Family Services, located in Chelsea, MI. She completed her Master’s degree in Clinical Behavioral Psychology at Eastern Michigan University where she focused on evidence-based behavioral and cognitive behavioral interventions for children and adolescents. Through her work at Thriving Minds, Katelyn specializes in treating children with Selective Mutism via traditional weekly therapy, intensive therapy (i.e., 15-20 hours of treatment in one week), and group therapy models. Through an exposure therapy model, children with Selective Mutism are encouraged to be brave in talking with new people and in new settings. Katelyn emphasizes collaborative care and frequently works in partnership with parents and schools to best assist clients and to promote growth through education on appropriate goals and interventions. Katelyn is also the Assistant Director for Confident Kids Camp, an intensive week-long treatment program for children with Selective Mutism. In addition to her work with children with Selective Mutism, Katelyn provides evidenced-based therapy for children with other anxiety disorders, depressive disorders, and disruptive behavior disorders.

  Katelyn has been a professional member of the Selective Mutism Association since 2013 and joined the Board of Directors in 2017. Currently she serves as the President of SMA. She is passionate about spreading awareness about Selective Mutism and about effective treatment techniques and is excited to contribute to the mission of SMA through her involvement on the Board of Directors.

Disclosure

References

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