61st Annual Meeting

October 18 - 25, 2014

Special Interest Study Group 15 (sold out)

What To Do With Children Who Do Not Speak: Assessment and Treatment of Selective Mutism

Selective Mutism (SM) is a psychiatric disorder in which children without significant language difficulties do not speak to adults and peers in social situations, typically school. The recent addition of SM into the Anxiety Disorders category of DSM-5 mandates the need to develop best practice guidelines incorporating evidence from the literature and clinician consensus for assessment and treatment. As the first step toward developing consensus on best evidence-based practices, this SIG brings together clinicians, researchers, and resident psychiatrists to discuss the changes in the classification and diagnostic criteria for SM; review current research on assessment and treatment; and discuss common approaches to assessment and treatment.