Clinician Seminar – Assessment and Treatment of Selective Mutism
All Day Webinar – Friday, 14 May 2021, 9am-5pm (AEST).
Selective mutism is a severe and complex anxiety disorder that affects 1 in every 140 children in the first three years of school and even greater numbers in preschool. These children typically talk freely at home with their families but their anxiety prevents them from communicating in some or all social settings, particularly at school. Whilst the condition closely resembles social phobia, standard cognitive-behavioural treatments in the clinic similar to those used for social phobia generally have limited efficacy. Treatment at any age needs an intensive, multidimensional approach with a school program being an essential component of treatment. The program implemented by the Selective Mutism Clinic uses a three tiered approach to treatment that provides skills training to the classroom teacher, parent(s), and child.
This webinar will outline a multidimensional cognitive-behavioural approach to treatment in children with selective mutism that involves an intensive school program with skills training for the classroom teacher, all school personnel, the parent(s), and the child. Strategies specific to Selective Mutism treatment that differ from standard CBT for anxiety disorders will be highlighted. The complexities and comorbid conditions of selective mutism that impact treatment will be discussed as well as family factors that need to be addressed.
This seminar will aim to build participants’ understanding about selective mutism in preschool and primary-school aged children and how to modify typical cognitive-behavioural treatments for anxiety disorders to suit this population. A 5-stage ‘communication hierarchy’ that underlies the treatment program will be discussed with various practical goals to use at each stage of communication within the school environment and other social situations as well as other evidence-based strategies for selective mutism such as ‘Sliding In’.
In line with the Selective Mutism Clinic’s three-tiered approach, strategies will be discussed that:
- Train the classroom teacher to be an effective coach for the child and to implement an intensive school program that target’s the communication anxiety. How to prepare the school and select a classroom teacher who will maximise the child’s chance of success.
- Build the child’s own knowledge about their anxiety, speech anxiety, and other emotions, and specific skills to address these
- Target the complex family factors that play a role in the mutism, and train the parent to respond appropriately to their child’s emotional needs and build the child’s communication in social settings.
Topics that will be covered in the seminar:
- What is Selective Mutism
- Epidemiology and aetiology of selective mutism
- A 5-stage model of communication in selective mutism to guide graded exposure
- Assessment at school and in the clinic
- Types of treatments and research
- Key treatment strategies including ‘Sliding In’, graded exposure, and generalising talking to all peers and teachers at school
- An intensive school treatment program
- Clinic program – parent and child components
- Motivating families to seek treatment
- Comorbidities and special cases of Selective Mutism
- Common issues and questions