Therapist for 3YO with selective mutism

We worked with West Coast Therapy & Wellness for more than a year for our daughter with SM when she was 4.5yo. Our therapist was Olivia Rivera and she was fantastic. We never directly met with Christy but I know she was involved as the practitioners discuss cases amongst themselves. We also did the SM kids summer camp last year and got a lot of feedback and insight into our kiddo's issues, after which we made a few changes and she is now fully verbal at school. We don't have regular therapy sessions for her anymore but do intend to ask Olivia and her team for guidance in large future transitions. They also recently added a psychiatrist to their team who is knowledgeable about medications specifically pertaining to SM. We ended up using a different psychiatrist for the prescription (due to in-network cost) but our experience is that many psychiatrists are not familiar with SM, so having access to one who does is great. 

As for approach, they helped us set up a tangible reward system to encourage our kiddo to work through her anxiety in many situations. We faded-in our therapist Olivia (and eventually she faded in teachers at school) and did exposures in the real world. She was thoughtful and always listened to our concerns about what was working/not working. 

The main downside for us was the cost as they were out of network. But we saw tangible progress and results from working with them so it was an easy decision to help our child.

When our kiddo developed SM, it was a very anxious and confusing time for us, so I'm wishing the best for you and your family.

Hi Jen! I received your private message to my email address but couldn’t respond as it was sent via BPN. You can send me an email jkbeal at gmail dot com if you’d like to connect.

You are catching your daughter’s SM young so you have a great head start. We went to Mighty Mouth Kids Camp in Oklahoma last summer and my daughter flourished there. It’s only $800 and with flight/airbnb cost us close to what Christy Tadros camp would cost but we got a vacation out of it too so for us it was worth it. I highly recommend a summer camp! 

I’ve heard of Dr Pascarelli before too but not Dr Sami. For us, summer camp was all we needed to get our daughter on the road to recovery so we haven’t done any other therapy outside of the camp. I’m not sure if Mighty Mouth works with kids younger than 4 but I believe Thrivjng Minds in Michigan does? Anyway, best of luck and please reach out if you’d like to connect and hear more about our journey. 

When my daughter was diagnosed with selective mutism at age 3 (many years ago), we were waitlisted for therapy and it looked like it was going to be a long wait. The book "Helping Your Child with Selective Mutism: Practical Steps to Overcome a Fear of Speaking" was a lifesaver. I would highly recommend it in addition to whichever therapist you decide on. We immediately started implementing the book's recommendations, and by the time we got off the therapy waitlist about 9 months later, my daughter had made so much progress we just decided to skip the expense of therapy and continue with the book. Educating her teachers and the adults around her was a very important first step since most people aren't familiar with SM. We used the book's recommendations throughout her early elementary years with great success. She's now in high school and is a happy and well-adjusted student who loves the arts. Good luck!