Meet Wes

When Wes and his family kick-started treatment via the August 2018 CommuniCamp™ they “were in a rough place.” Wes had just started to whisper to immediate family member after being essentially fully mute.

According to Mom, “during the weekend of CommuniCamp™ he was breaking out of a whisper into a full voice on-an-off and within a week he had moved out of the whisper to a full-time full voice with our household members and grandparents.  After that he was able to communicate with people he knew well like a typical kid. As noted above, we did move from whisper only, to breaking into a full voice, on day one of CommuniCamp™.  We had not heard his full voice in 5 weeks at that point so there was a lot of joy (that we had to hide because recognizing progress with our son was not helpful).

When school began our son was able to fully communicate in school only when my husband or I were present.  This was a big improvement over the previous school year.  Our school agreed to have us participate in our son’s school day daily if that is what we needed. Almost every day for 20-90 minutes I would attend school with him.  He would be fully verbal.  So, I played games with him and his peers that involved speech (which we learned at CommuniCamp™) and I would slowly take steps to physically back away while he was talking, and he would continue.

There was a day where I was in an out of his classroom over a few-hour period. I was in for ten minutes, out for an hour, etc. He was able to stay verbal while I was gone each time. After I left for good, he continued to stay verbal. After about 2.5 months, almost overnight, he was able to continue to speak when I left the school until the end of the day and continue on the bus home.  After that the school obstacle was overcome. Wes is speaking fully at school; all settings, peers, teachers, administrators, etc.

Today Wes can often order in a restaurant like a typical child, he is, as of November 2018, fully verbal at school with all staff and students.  An outsider would not know he was an SM kid.

[As of April 2019] he has recently joined baseball for the first time and has had no issues communicating with the coach or other kids on the team. We recently traveled out of state and he met a boy at the hotel pool and immediately was playing with him and talking without the need for CommuniCamp™ strategies.  When things are high pressure, he sometimes transitions to a quiet voice and we engage with S-CAT®, but considering a year ago there was no voice, we could not be happier.”

The steps to enroll in CommuniCamp™ are easy as 1-2-3! Call 215-887-5748 to learn more, or click here for more detailed information: https://selectivemutismcenter.org/communicamp/

To effectively overcome Selective Mutism and all anxieties, an individual needs to be involved in a treatment program, such as those rooted in evidenced-based Social Communication Anxiety Treatment® (S-CAT®), like Individualized Intensives and CommuniCamp. Developed by Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum, this holistic or “whole-person” treatment approach is designed to reduce anxiety, build self-esteem, increase social comfort and communication in all settings. 
As a physician, Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum (“Dr. E”) views SM as a social communication anxiety where mutism is merely a symptom. The key to an effective treatment plan is understanding factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of SM as well as understanding a child’s baseline stage of social communication on the Social Communication Bridge©. Then, working as a team, the treatment professional, parents, and school staff members help the child build coping skills to combat anxious feelings and to progress across the Social Communication Bridge©.