Description

This 3-hour webinar is for parents, carers, and family members who would like to understand more about selective mutism and learn specific strategies to help their child become a confident communicator at school and in other social settings.

 

Selective Mutism is an anxiety disorder similar to social anxiety whereby children who talk freely and normally at home feel anxious in social situations such as school or talking to strangers, and are unable to talk.

 

Selective mutism can completely resolve with treatment, but usually requires 1 to 2 years of treatment in order to do so. Treatment usually involves an intensive program at preschool/school, 1 on 1 sessions with a psychologist, and lots of practise communicating in various social situations outside school.

 

Topics that are covered in the webinar:

• What is Selective Mutism
• Differences between Selective Mutism and shyness
• Understanding anxiety
• How anxiety is addressed using a stepladder approach
• How communication difficulties can be improved using a ‘stepladder’ approach (a ‘5-stage model of communication’)
• Factors that make it harder or easier for children with selective mutism to communicate
• General do’s and dont’s of managing selective mutism
• Using ‘Sliding In’ as a strategy to help children with selective mutism start to talk to their teacher/clinician/key relatives
• Building children’s communication in social situations outside school such as at the shops, with relatives, and extracurricular activities
• Skills to teach your child about emotions, and general parenting strategies to help keep children’s anxiety low
• Details about the Selective Mutism Clinic’s intensive school program for selective mutism

 

The webinar is recommended for:

• Parents/carers and relatives of children with Selective Mutism, extreme shyness, social anxiety disorder, or extremely reluctant talkers

 

About the presenter:

Dr Elizabeth Woodcock is a Clinical Psychologist and Director of the Selective Mutism Clinic and also MindBox Psychology in Sydney. She has a Masters of Clinical Psychology and PhD from the University of NSW with over 20 years’ experience in treating child and adult mental health issues across both private practice and the public sector in research and clinical settings.

Elizabeth has a special interest in treatment of Selective Mutism and has seen or supervised close to 1000 cases of Selective Mutism in clients ranging from late 2’s to adulthood. She is first author of the chapter ‘Treatment Programmes for Children with Selective Mutism’ in the book ‘Innovations and Advances in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy’ edited by D. Einstein (2007). Elizabeth runs a series of training webinars about Selective Mutism each year to suit a range of audiences, including teachers, parents, speech pathologists, and psychologists.

 

Cost:

The seminar price is $150. Cancelled bookings can be transferred but not refunded. Earlybird price is $120 for payments received prior to 21/7/22.

Registrations:

To register, please click on the link below to pay via Paypal or credit card. This will add the relevant items to your basket, then navigate to the basket and follow the links. Alternatively you can pay over the phone by calling our reception on (02) 9438 2511 or emailing the clinic.  

 

Can’t make the live webinar?

Check out these alternative options:
Access to an online recording of a previous webinar (for a period of 4 weeks) is  available to purchase here. 
A USB with a recording of a previous webinar is available to purchase here.