EVENTS
Camp Courage
Camp Courage is offered in the month just before the school year starts and is a one-week session of fun and productive activities for a small group of children and their families. The program involves daily participation in arts and crafts, playground play, field trips to local establishments, and simulated classroom settings by the children and our professional staff.
Each child is assigned to a trained "counselor" to facilitate and reward the use of verbal communication in these small group experiences. Parents are provided with a group session prior to the start of camp to learn how they can enhance their children's treatment through their own actions in-between sessions. Prior to enrolling in Camp Courage, each child is provided with individual treatment so they are ready for the small group experiences included in Camp. We have found that participation boosts children's progress and helps them prepare for brave actions when they start school.
Concentrated Monthly Weekend Boosters
Based on our Camp Courage program, we run small group experiences one weekend day every month. These experiences provide each child with an individual therapist who will help them effectively relax and engage in verbal communication in the presence of the group. Methods to train relaxation, to reward the use of brave interactions and talk, and to help children improve their ability to communicate in a variety of settings are utilized.
Concentrated Treatment Programs for Visitors from Outside the NYC Region
Sometimes families are not able to find experienced therapists in their area. We offer individualized programs of multiple days for families who are able to visit the NYC area to help set the foundation for advances in communication when the child and family return to their home and school setting. The length of the concentrated program and its goals are set based upon an evaluation that is completed through phone interviews and the use of data collected from parents and teachers who know the child well.
Consultations to School Districts and Other Therapists
We also offer training workshops for therapists and school mental health professionals in which we discuss our intervention methods and other methods that have been reported in the clinical research literature. These workshops and consultations are tailored to meet the needs of therapists, single professionals in school districts, or entire teams of school-district professionals.
For more information please contact an intake coordinator at (212) 263-8916 or e-mail at services@aboutourkids.org
NYU Child Study Center
215 Lexington Ave. 13th Floor
New York, NY 10016
Parents of Selectively Mute Children
We serve London, Canada and the surrounding area, and meet once a month at:
UWO, Sommerville House
Room 3355
7:00 pm to 9:00 pm
Filomena Wickman
For dates, email Filomena: filmsmc@rogers.com
Movement for Optimal Brain Function
The Brain and Sensory Foundations Online Course for parents and professionals interested in learning highly effective movements for helping children with challenges.
Five reasons to take this course:
1. Help your children build the foundation necessary for sensory processing as well as emotional, social, language and learning skills.
2. Keep your children healthy in balance and stress-free as they develop and move through their daily lives.
3. Give your children the ability to access their brightness and intelligence and express these in ways that are enjoyable and effective.
4. Help your children feel comfortable and at ease in their own bodies. There is no substitute for a calm and effective nervous system.
5. It's fascinating and fun and you'll receive the benefits of doing movement along with your child. The movements work for all ages.
To view parent comments, description of the class, background information,
case studies, and related research studies, please go to:
www.moveplaythrive.com
Sonia Story
(360) 732-4356
www.moveplaythrive.com
Movement for Optimal Brain Function
Jerry Alan Fails (MSU)
Selective Mutism Project
failsj@mail.montclair.edu
http://hci.montclair.edu/fails/
Courage Club Exposure Group 2015
Is your child in need of group-work or teamwork practice? We are now offering a group called Courage Club at ATS.
ATS's Courage Club Exposure Group provides a comfortable and relaxed group experience that caters to children with Selective Mutism or Social Phobia who would benefit from a therapeutic environment in which to practice their group work skills, social skills, and verbal goals. The therapeutic goals include habituating to anxiety, increasing peer interaction, and fostering group-work skills while making friends and having fun.
Schools nation wide are encouraging more group-work as part of basic education. In school, children sit in pods rather than individual rows of desks for at least one class, if not all of them. Group projects are assigned more regularly, and group presentations are a consistent part of school projects. For a child with Selective Mutism or Social Phobia, it is likely that in a group situation, they fade into the background. Courage Club provides practice within a supportive therapeutic environment in using these skills while having fun.
For our group at ATS, we are recruiting children who have recovered or are recovering from selective mutism, social anxiety, or other anxiety disorders, making the group a cohesive one of similar personalities and temperament.
Group Therapy Structure:
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80 min: Group Therapy (kids only)
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10 min: Review of activity (kids and parents)
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Activities are rotated monthly; open to attend 1, 2, 3, or 4 sessions of each activity.
Mondays 4:00 - 5:30pm or 5:30 - 6:00pm
Tuesdays 5:00 - 6:30pm
Fridays 2:00- 3:30pm or 2:30 - 4:00pm
Saturdays 1:00 - 2:30pm or 3:00 - 4:30pm
Advanced Therapeutic Solutions, Conference Room
600 W. 22nd Street
Suite 250
Oak Brook, IL 60523
Sarah Bertolino, PsyD
Advanced Therapeutic Solutions
drbertolino@advancedtherapeuticsolutions.org
630-230-6505
Selective Mutism Magazine Survey for Parents:
Finding Our Voices
