Cosponsored by The University of Mississippi Medical Center, Center for the Advancement of Youth, Mississippi Anxiety Clinic and Camp for Kids (MACCK)
January 25 and 26, 2021
Cost
Participation without CE credits: $299
Graduate Student/Trainee: $200
Program Overview
The Selective Mutism Training Institute (SMTI) is an in-depth, 2-day online training course for professionals working with children diagnosed with selective mutism (SM). The workshop is intensive, and skills-based with the goal of increasing competence in providing empirically-supported treatment of SM to professionals with beginner and intermediate exposure and skills in assessing and treating SM. We maintain a high instructor to participant ratio to ensure adequate time for modeling and video role-play of the skills.
This is a unique opportunity for mental health professionals, speech-language professionals and graduate-level trainees to learn cutting-edge, innovative techniques to effectively treat children with SM. Small group, video consultation with the course instructors following the 2-day training is included in the cost, allowing participants to further apply the skills in their own unique clinical settings.
The workshop starts with providing a framework for understanding the etiology of SM, highlighting the role of nature, nurture, temperament, and developmental differences in the onset and maintenance of SM, social anxiety, and other common comorbidities. Strategies for behavioral, developmental, and language assessment will be reviewed, including how to conduct observations of children with SM. Evidence-based interventions will be covered in depth, including behavioral strategies such as stimulus fading, shaping, positive reinforcement, and parent education/coaching. State-of-the-science interventions, such as intensive treatments, group-based interventions, and school consultation will also be taught.
Program Objectives
- After this course, participants will be able to describe etiologies related to selective mutism and appropriate timing for medication consultation.
- After this course, participants will be able to describe effective assessment measures and procedures in the evaluation of children with selective mutism.
- After this course, participants will be able to list levels of communication from nonvocal to spontaneous vocalization in treating children with selective mutism.
- After this course, participants will be able to identify empirically-supported behavioral and cognitive treatments, including self-modeling, and PCIT-SM (Parent-Child Interaction Therapy for Selective Mutism) techniques for selective mutism in school, home, and public (social) settings.
- After this course, participants will be able to list three strategies to effectively engage school personnel and education systems to promote awareness and implementation of treatment strategies specific to youth with special needs and selective mutism.
Audience
Participants must be either independently licensed or certified, or matriculating in a supervised graduate program in clinical psychology, school psychology, counseling, social work, applied behavior analysis, or speech-language pathology (Mental Health Professionals: Psychologists, LMHC, LMFT, LCSW; Medical/Healthcare Professional; Education Professionals). Other participants will be considered on a case-by-case basis and are encouraged to email info@selectivemutism.org with their particulars to discuss if this training is appropriate.
Prior experience: The SMTI course is primarily intended for those with beginner and intermediate exposure to work with SM.
Continuing Education
For information regarding continuing education credits, please email Eleanor Ezell, Clinical Director of MACCK, at eezell@umc.edu.
A certificate of completion will be provided upon request.
Presenter Information
Rachel Busman, Psy.D., ABPP
Rachel Busman, Psy.D., ABPP is the senior director of the Anxiety Disorders Center and director of the Selective Mutism Service at the Child Mind Institute. She leads a team of clinicians providing evaluation and innovative treatment to children with selective mutism. Dr. Busman is Past President of the Selective Mutism Association, the nation’s largest network of professionals, families, and individuals with selective mutism. Dr. Busman has extensive experience providing cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to children, teenagers and young adults struggling with anxiety disorders, school difficulties and behavioral problems. She also has specific interest and expertise in the evaluation and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, separation anxiety disorder, social anxiety disorder and specific phobias. Dr. Busman has worked with children in both inpatient and outpatient settings at a major academic medical center, where she directed a multidisciplinary team. She has taught and supervised psychiatry residents and child psychiatry fellows, and lectured extensively on a variety of topics, including the evidence-based assessment and treatment of anxiety disorders in children and teens. Dr. Busman works intensively with children who have selective mutism, and is dedicated to establishing trust and instilling a sense of hope in her patients as she helps them on their path to recovery.
Eleanor Ezell, LMSW
Eleanor Ezell, LMSW, is the Clinical Director of the Mississippi Anxiety Clinic and Camp for Kids (MACCK). The project is funded by the Mississippi Council for Developmental Disabilities and is set out to bring evidence-based anxiety treatments to Mississippi to serve children with and without developmental delays. She completed her Masters in Social Work at New York University, graduating with Honors. Prior to her graduate education, she worked at Yale University and received her B.A. in Psychology from Sewanee: University of the South. She trained in New York City under the direction of Dr. Steven Kurtz in the treatment of Disruptive Behavior and Anxiety Disorders, specifically ADHD, ODD, SM and Social Anxiety, and in the day treatment school setting. After graduate school, Eleanor completed a two year Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics Fellowship at the University of Mississippi Medical Center with a multi-disciplinary fellowship team focused on the diagnosis and treatment of Autism other and developmental delays. Eleanor implemented the first Teacher-Child Interaction Training program in the state of Mississippi during fellowship and continues to coach teachers through various domains. She is a therapist and Clinical Director of MACCK at the Center for the Advancement of Youth at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, MS. Eleanor is Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) Certified and a candidate PCIT within agency trainer, a Teacher-Child Interaction Therapy (TCIT) Trainer, and Child-Adult Relationship Enhancement (CARE) Trainer in clinic and schools across Mississippi.
Jami Furr, Ph.D.
Jami Furr, Ph.D. is a Clinical Assistant Professor and Senior Psychologist in the Mental Health Interventions and Technology (MINT) Program, and the Selective Mutism Program at the Center for Children and Families at Florida International University (FIU). Dr. Furr is the current President of the Board of Directors of SMA. Dr. Furr has extensive expertise in cognitive-behavioral treatments of childhood anxiety and disruptive behavior disorders, with a focus on preschool mental health and intensive group treatment programs for children with selective mutism – directing the first randomized clinical trial of the intensive group behavioral treatment for selective mutism in young children. Dr. Furr received her M.A. and Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from Temple University. Dr. Furr completed her clinical psychology internship at the NYU-Bellevue Clinical Psychology Internship Program and the NYU Child Study Center, after which she completed an NIH-funded Postdoctoral Fellowship in Child Psychiatry at the NYU Child Study Center.
This project was supported, in part by grant number 2001MSSCDD, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201. Grantees undertaking projects with government sponsorship are encouraged to express freely their findings and conclusions. Points of view or opinions do not, therefore, necessarily represent official ACL policy.
