Trainings & Coachingfor schools, families & professionals

For school districts and organizations seeking to better understand and support children, teens, and adults with Selective Mutism, the SMart Center offers customized educational workshops & presentations tailored to your team’s needs. Choose a one-hour, half-day, or full-day training.

1 hourHalf dayFull day

What attendees will learn

• Recognizing behaviors and characteristics associated with Selective Mutism.
• Understanding factors & comorbidities that contribute to its development and persistence.
• Evaluating individuals with Selective Mutism and identifying their support needs.
• Using the Social Communication Bridge® and S-CAT® strategies, including cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and exposure-based interventions, to build comfort, connection, confidence, and communication.
• Developing school accommodations and interventions through 504 Plans and IEPs, as well as workplace accommodations.

Each training includes time for questions and discussion.

Help your school team understand and support an individual student with Selective Mutism, social anxiety, and related social communication challenges. Student-specific training focuses on the student’s current comfort, connections, strengths, and communication across school settings.

Turn understanding into a practical school plan

1. Review parent and school feedback forms to identify where, when, how and with whom the student is comfortable and communicating.
2. Use the Social Communication Bridge® to match support to the student’s current communication stage.
3. Explore individualized CBT and exposure-based S-CAT® strategies, with adult facilitation and manageable steps toward increased engagement and communication.
4. Plan opportunities for buddy connections, purposeful helper roles, and structured small-group activities.
5. Discuss accommodations and active interventions for classroom participation, recess, lunch, transitions, and other school routines, including considerations for 504 Plans and IEPs.
6. Practice how to facilitate communication and identify next steps for collaboration between home, school, and the treating professional.

Time is provided for questions and discussion of the student’s specific needs.

Receive individualized support for parenting a child or teen with Selective Mutism, social anxiety, and/or extreme shyness. This service creates space for an open dialogue with our clinical team about your child’s social communication challenges and your family’s needs.

Understand the challenges. Practice the strategies.

Together, we explore recommended S-CAT® strategies to increase social communication and discuss how to adjust them for your child and family. Sessions include time for questions and role-playing so you can practice tailored strategies for home and real-world settings, as well as learn how to share them with school professionals.

Consult with a SMart Center expert clinician about a child, teen, or young adult with social communication challenges related to Selective Mutism, social anxiety, social communication (pragmatic) disorder, or extreme shyness.

This service supports treating professionals working with individuals who are or are not currently receiving treatment at the SMart Center. Pre-assessment forms help our clinician gain a deeper understanding of the individual before the consultation.

A collaborative, question-and-answer session

• Develop a clearer understanding of the individual’s social communication challenges.
• Explore recommended strategies based on Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum’s S-CAT® treatment principles to support increased social communication.

This consultation does not replace an individual evaluation or treatment for someone who is not a patient at the SMart Center.