BraveWave: Intensive Summer Treatment for Children with Selective Mutism
Mon July 29- Fri Aug 2, 2024
The WaveMind Clinic will be offering a week-long intensive summer treatment program for children ages 3 to 9 with selective mutism, or suspected selective mutism, called “BraveWave.” Read on for more details.
What does BraveWave look like?
BraveWave is a week-long intensive group program for children ages 3 to 9 who have been diagnosed with selective mutism, or who have difficulty speaking in social situations at school, in public, with unfamiliar people, or other social situations. Our program simulates a school environment, where we strive to provide opportunities for children to practice facing some of their social fears. Children will participate in a variety of school-like activities, such as morning meeting, group projects, snack, and show & tell, all while having the opportunity to interact with other children in a therapeutic setting with one-to-one therapist support. Children will have opportunities to go on field trips, play games and activities that promote talking, and meet other children who experience similar challenges. In addition, parents will participate in parent training to learn parenting skills to support their children throughout and outside of our program.
What happens before the program starts?
Prior to the start of the program, we will conduct a diagnostic evaluation to learn more about your child’s challenges, and your family. This diagnostic evaluation will help us determine if our program will be a good fit for your child.
We will hold virtual parent training sessions 2 weeks before the program starts. It is a requirement that at least 1 parent attends all of the virtual parent training sessions, and highly recommended that all caregivers attend all parent training sessions. These training sessions will give parents the skills they need to support their children leading up to, during, and after the camp. These sessions will occur virtually Tues July 9, Weds July 10, and Thurs July 11 from 8:30am-10:00am PST.
After you complete the diagnostic evaluation, the next step is to participate in sessions with your assigned therapist to prepare your child for the program. These are called “lead-in” sessions, and the main goal is for your child to speak to at least 1 therapist without a parent present. Sometimes this can take a few hours/sessions. If you are traveling from out-of-town to attend our program, we ask that you arrive no later than Wednesday July 26 to begin participating in these lead-in sessions so that we have adequate time to prepare your child for the program. We are unable to enroll a child into our program who doesn’t meet this criteria.
What’s the schedule?
The program starts at 8am at our clinic is West LA, and ends at 2:00pm. Throughout the day, we ask that parents are no more than a few minutes away, and always have their phone on them in case we need them, or in case there’s an emergency.
Here is what some of our typical activities look like.
Drop Off & Warm Up Time
You may be asked to drop your child off earlier, or stay after you drop your child off if your child has separation challenges. After children are dropped off, they will be paired immediately with their counselor for the day, and have time to warm up and play, without being expected to speak or perform, before the day begins.
Morning Meeting
Much like school, a morning meeting will occur, led by one of our trained therapists/teachers. Children will have opportunities to practice speaking in a group setting.
Fun Activities
A variety of activities will occur throughout the week, such as crafts, games, and other school-like activities. Throughout all activities, children will be given opportunities to practice speaking and interacting with others.
Special Guest
We will have 1-2 "special guests" visit our classroom. In the past, this has been a police officer, a nurse, or a firefighter. This person will visit the group, teach the kids about their job, and give the opportunity for questions.
Lunch
During lunch, we encourage children to interact with one another and ask adults for help with anything related to their lunch. We also use lunch time as a break for the kids, as they are working so hard all day long.
Bathroom Breaks
Throughout the day, we have planned bathroom breaks. Many children with anxiety and selective mutism have a hard time speaking up and asking to go to the bathroom, so we give them opportunities to use the bathroom and help them practice asking to go to the bathroom.
Field Trips
Once or twice throughout the week we will go on a "field trip" or outing to help children generalize their speaking to other settings. For example, we may visit a nearby ice cream shop and have children practice ordering their own ice cream. We prepare children in advance of any special trips.
Show & Tell
We end our camp week with show & tell, where all children take a turn presenting their show & tell to the group of kids and parents. Of course, this can be very challenging for most of our kids, so we prepare by practicing throughout the week and we will modify show & tell to ensure all kids can be successful in their own way.
Prize Shop
All children finish the day by counting up all the gold coins or stickers they earned throughout the day and cashing them in for a prize at the prize shop, for all their hard work!
What else?
In addition to the week of the camp, families will also receive a report documenting their child’s participation in our program as well as specific recommendations for teachers and the school. Additionally, parents will receive a link to send to their child’s upcoming school teacher(s) to participate in a live virtual training with our program to learn similar strategies for how to manage selective mutism at school.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does your program cost?
The cost of our program ranges from $3650 - $4650, depending on whether or not you’ve been receiving treatment with WaveMind. The cost includes:
1-hour initial parent evaluation (new families)
maximum of 5 hours of individual “lead-in” sessions to prepare your child for our program (new families)
three 1.5 hour parent training sessions
full 5-day treatment program which includes all above-mentioned activities
follow-up report documenting your child’s participation and specific recommendations for their school/teachers
teacher access to virtual 2-hour training
Children are eligible to be considered for the program if they are:
between the ages of 3 and 9
have a diagnosis of selective mutism or have suspected selective mutism (we will conduct our own diagnostic evaluation)
do not have other conditions significantly more impairing than selective mutism that would interfere with their engagement with the type of treatment we offer
must speak comfortably with at least 1 familiar adult in their lives; we will not consider children who are entirely non-verbal
toilet trained
What is your eligibility criteria?
What if my child doesn’t talk to an adult before the program starts?
One requirement to participate in the program is that children speak to at least 1 adult without a parent in the room prior to beginning the program. We allow 6 hours of “lead-in” time to prepare children to meet this requirement. Our strategies are highly effective and it rarely happens where children are unable to meet this requirement; however it has happened and we want parents to be prepared that their child cannot attend the program if they do not speak to one of our program staff before the week starts.
I am traveling from out-of-town to attend the program. What does that look like?
We welcome families from out-of-town and have seen many families in the past who visit Los Angeles to receive treatment with us in a short period of time. We ask that families arrive in town no later than the Wednesday before camp starts (Weds July 24) so that we have ample time to prepare your child for the program with above-mentioned “lead-in” sessions. Therefore, we ask that you arrive into town no later than Wednesday July 24 and you leave no earlier than Friday August 2 after the program day ends (after 2pm).
What is the ratio of adult to child? Who provides the treatment in this program?
Our program has over a 1:1 ratio of trained adult to child. Due to the nature of selective mutism, it is necessary that children are paired individually with a counselor for the entirety of the program so that they have immediate support to speak and participate. As the week goes on, their one-to-one counselor will gradually reduce their support to encourage your child to engage more independently. We have a large team including licensed psychologists, training psychologists, doctoral student therapists, bachelors-level therapists, and undergraduate volunteers. It may rotate daily who your child is paired with. Our program is directed by Dr. Danielle Cornacchio.