Brave Buddies℠ is an intensive group behavioral treatment program designed to help children ages three to eight with selective mutism (SM) speak in school and other public places. We create a classroom-like setting that offers children a safe environment to practice verbal participation, or what we call “brave talking.”
Prior to attending Brave Buddies, children participate in lead-in sessions, which introduce them to the staff they will be working with and help them practice brave talking. Brave Buddies is offered as a multi-day intensive program twice a year, and as one-day sessions several times throughout the year.
The Brave Buddies day is structured like a typical school day, with morning meeting, craft and sport activities, meals, and field trips to places like the library and the park. The staff guides children through progressively more challenging activities, prompting them to use verbal responses and speak spontaneously as they play with other children and adults. Each Brave Buddies day ends with a trip to the Brave Buddies prize store — a chance for children to practice buying a toy on their own with the points they’ve earned for brave talking.
When
One-day sessions, which run from 9:00am to 2:00pm, are still accepting registrations for the following dates:
April 21, 2017
June 16, 2017
Multi-day intensive programs, which run from 9:00am to 2:00pm on consecutive days, are being offered on the following dates:
4-day program in February 2017 runs Saturday, February 18, through Tuesday, February 21, at the 92Y Nursery School
5-day program in August 2017 runs Monday, August 7, through Friday, August 11, in New York City (exact location TBD)
Parent training is a crucial part of Brave Buddies and runs from 9:30 to 11:00am daily.
Please contact our intake team at 212-308-3118 or email BraveBuddies@childmind.org.
