The Selective Mutism Association’s annual conference will be on Friday, September 25 (full day) and Saturday, September 26 (half day) this year in lively, historic, Boston, MA! The SMA conference is cosponsored by the Boston Child Study Center and Boston University CARD Center. We hope you can join us in person to connect with our community! It will be a wonderful time of gathering to learn the latest in evidence-based information, support one another, and connect with parents and professionals. While we hope you will be able to join us in person, for those who are unable to join us in Boston, SMA will offer a limited recorded bundle of conference presentations for purchase.

Registration Options

In-Person Conference

(Please note: everyone is welcome to attend in person; however, there is no specific live programming geared toward Individuals who currently have SM at the in-person conference) 

• Attend full one-and-a-half day conference of live presentations for professionals and caregivers
• Network with other professionals and families at the Mix n’Mingle Connection time on Friday evening
• Explore current research on SM and interact with researchers at poster presentations
• Earn Continuing Education for approved sessions for both professional and caregiver tracks
• Listen to live “Hear Our Voices” panel of individuals recovering from SM with Q&A
• Bring questions to live panel of experts in the field of SM with Q&A

Limited Conference Recording Bundle for caregivers/professionals 

• A limited selection of pre-determined sessions will be recorded and offered virtually directly after the conference
• Earn continuing education for approved recorded sessions
• Session titles and descriptions will be released in June 2026.
• Recordings will be released after the conference and will be available until January 31, 2027.

Recording Bundle for Individuals with Selective Mutism (ages 17 and older) 

• Sessions will be recorded and offered virtually after the conference (geared toward ages 17 and older). Please note that sessions for this track will NOT be offered in person at the conference.
• Registration is free for this track.
• This registration option will only allows access to the Individual Track presentations.
• Sessions titles and descriptions offered will be released in June 2026.
• Recordings will be released after the conference and will be available until January 31, 2027.

Some registration options also include a discounted membership for those who are not already members of SMA. More information regarding membership benefits is located here. Only people who are not currently members of SMA are eligible to sign up for this membership option.

Keynote Address

Keynote Address: Practical Approaches to Treating Youth Anxiety: Bridging Research and Treatment, Philip C. Kendall, Ph.D., ABPP

Philip C. Kendall, PhD, ABPP was raised in Merrick, New York and currently resides in Ardmore, Pennsylvania where he and his deceased spouse, Sue, raised the two sons, Mark and Reed. Dr. Kendall is an avid NY Times crossword puzzler and plays basketball twice a week. He enjoys yardwork and the opportunity to spend time in the ocean and with his family.

Dr. Kendall’s undergraduate education was completed at Old Dominion University and his doctorate in clinical psychology at Virginia Commonwealth University. Dr. Kendall interned at the Palo Alto VA hospital. In 1977 he took his first academic appointment in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Kendall relocated to Direct the Clinical Program at Temple University, in Philadelphia. Soon after relocating to Temple Dr. Kendall opened the Child and Adolescent Anxiety Disorders Clinic (CAADC), which has been in operation as a research-clinical service for 40 years.

Dr. Kendall is currently Distinguished University Professor at Temple University and Laura H. Carnell Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Temple University. His CV includes over 25 books, treatment manuals and workbooks, and with over 800 scholarly publications, most in our field’s leading journals. Throughout his work, Dr. Kendall has applied rigorous experimental designs, and with his prolific scholarly writing on clinical research methodology, he has elevated the work of other psychologists seeking to evaluate treatment methods.

One of his treatment programs (e.g., Coping Cat) has been translated into numerous languages. Dr. Kendall was among the very first to emphasize and articulate the critical importance of applying developmental science to treatment development, and to ensure clinical methods were compatible with children’s cognitive and socio-emotional competencies. After other scholars reviewed the literature, Coping Cat was subsequently given the elite designation of an “empirically supported treatment.”

Dr. Kendall has had over 35 years of uninterrupted grant support from various agencies (e.g., NIMH; NICHD; MacArthur). He placed among an elite handful of the “Most Highly-Cited” individuals in all of the social and medical sciences (top 1%). His recent H Index is 163.

Dr. Kendall has garnered numerous awards. He won the inaugural Research Recognition Award from the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, was awarded the Aaron T. Beck Award for “Significant and Enduring Contributions,” and was honored by the Society for the Science of Clinical Psychology with their Lawrence H. Cohen Outstanding Mentor Award, both in 2019. He was honored by ABCT, an association in which he has been active his entire career, with their Career/Lifetime Achievement Award and by APA with the 2025 Award for Distinguished Scientific Applications of Psychology.

Dr. Kendall is a clinical scientist, teacher/mentor, and leader. He is known for encouraging rigorous methodology (studies with “methodological niceties”), creative and integrative approaches to mental health services (e.g., the use of youth workbooks as part of mental health services), and commitment to graduate mentoring (proud of his many former graduate students who have gone forth and done great work). An active folder on his desktop is a list of former students and their current affiliation.

Date and Location

Hilton Boston Park Plaza
50 Park Plaza
Boston, MA 02116
(617) 426-2000

Conference Offers Professional, Caregiver, and Individuals with SM (Ages 17 and up) Tracks

The conference will offer presentations for professionals, parents/family, and individuals with SM. Please note that presentations for Individuals with SM (Ages 17 and up) will only occur in a pre-recorded format and will be available virtually. For those that attend the in-person conference, registrants can attend any session that interests them. In addition, all in-person conference registrants will attend the keynote address, Expert Q&A, and a Hear Our Voices panel where people talk about their lives and recovery from SM. There will be opportunities for parents and professionals to meet and visit, and books will be available for viewing and direct purchase via Amazon. A light continental breakfast will be included.

Mix n’Mingle Connection Time

Please join us for a Mix ‘n Mingle right after the last conference session on Friday in the early evening to interact and talk with other attendees. In addition, poster presenters will present their work during this time and would love to talk with you! Stay tuned for more information.

Continuing Education

Please check the continuing education tab for approvals.

Special Note to all Individuals with SM:

SMA recognizes that resources for older individuals who have SM are scarce and thus, for individuals with SM (ages 17 and older), SMA will continue to offer the Individuals with SM track for FREE! Session titles and descriptions will be released in June 2026. This track will only be offered in a recorded format, not a face-to-face format. Recordings will be available until January 31, 2027. Continuing education will not be offered for this track. Please note, that individuals who register for this track will not have access to the professional and caregiver-friendly tracks that are offered. For those registrants who would like access to the professional/caregiver-friendly virtual option, you will need to register for that bundle as well.

Hotel Options

We encourage you to make your hotel reservations as early as possible in order to get the lowest rates and best availability. Boston is a very busy city in the fall, and room rates will rise as the conference date approaches. There are many hotels in the downtown Boston, airport and other surrounding areas.

Our host hotel, the Hilton Boston Park Plaza, is offering a discounted room rate. This discounted rate ranges between $319 and $349 per night.

To obtain the discounted rate, please call the hotel at 617.457.2290 and request the group rate under code 989. Alternatively, please reserve your discounted room using this room booking link: https://book.passkey.com/e/51222305. Both standard and Wicked Small rooms are located on this link. Please note that the “Wicked Small” rooms are small rooms (approximately 150 to 180 sq. ft) at the most discounted price.

Scholarships Available

We are excited to offer a limited number of need-based scholarships for the upcoming SMA conference. We are offering 2 types of scholarships:

Caregivers/Individuals with SM (who would like to attend in-person)

https://forms.gle/LcJkPsA6ARCtitB68

BIPOC Professionals or Professionals who serve underrepresented/BIPOC communities:

https://forms.gle/tuADfqm1RsiY4abE7

If interested and in need, please complete the form for the specific type of scholarship for which you would like to be considered. As part of the form you will be required to give a statement of need as well as answer several other questions related to the scholarship.

Please note: All scholarship submissions must be received by midnight ET on August 1, 2026. Eligible participants will be entered into a drawing, from which scholarship recipients will be selected. All recipients of the scholarships, as well as all who submitted, will be notified of their application status by August 10, 2026. Please do not register for the conference until you have been notified by SMA about your scholarship status.

Scholarship recipients can chose either to attend the face-to-face conference in Boston, or choose to apply their scholarship toward the purchase of the limited recording presentation bundle.

Please note: scholarship is for registration fees only. Travel fees are not included in scholarship award.

SMA is intending to rotate in-person conferences with fully virtual conferences in the coming years.

Email conference inquiries to Lisa Kovac at info@selectivemutism.org.