Unspoken Words: A Selective Mutism Podcast by Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum

SMart Center
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  • Mental Health
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Selective Mutism is more than “not talking”—and helping someone with SM starts with understanding why communication is difficult and what to do next. Welcome to Unspoken Words, the podcast dedicated to helping parents, educators, professionals, and individuals better understand and navigate Selective Mutism. Hosted by Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum (Dr. E), a world-renowned Selective Mutism expert with more than 30 years of experience, each episode turns real-life challenges into practical guidance you can actually use. Contact Email: DrE@SMartCenter.us Website: www.SelectiveMutismCenter.org

  1. 1d ago

    EP84: Stop asking "why isn't my child talking?" and start asking this instead…

    Episode 84 of the Unspoken Words podcast features Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum and Dr. Jenna Blum on a question they hear all the time from families: "We've been in treatment for years and tried everything, so why isn't it working?" They argue that a lack of progress isn't failure. It's information, and a signal that it's time to reassess. At the center of the episode is a key shift. The question isn't "how do we get this child to talk?" but "why is communication difficult for this particular child?" Selective mutism is rarely one thing. It's usually a mix of factors, such as a timid temperament, speech-language challenges, sensory sensitivities, ADHD, learning and processing issues, or stress at home. When treatment focuses on speech alone without understanding those whys, progress stalls. They go through the most common barriers: asking a child to do what they aren't ready for yet, skipping the "missing link" between nonverbal and verbal, and progress that happens in therapy but never carries into the real world. They also cover schools that haven't been trained, treatment that has become too comfortable to move anyone forward, and parents measuring the wrong kind of progress. Along the way: the ritual sound approach, verbal intermediaries and the SM triangle, and why every outing needs a "roadmap." They also discuss the SM School Evaluation Form, and share the story of a teen who spoke for the first time outside her home after crossing the bridge step by step. The episode closes with an eight-question reset for parents. If several answers are "I don't know," it's time to step back and rethink the plan instead of doing more of the same. Stalled treatment doesn't mean a child can't make progress. It means the right why, the right starting point, or the right strategy hasn't been found yet. -- Chapters:  (03:29) "Lack of Progress Is Information": Uncovering the Whys When Treatment Stalls (14:47) Apple Maps and the Missing Link: Why Kids Need a Roadmap Before They're Asked to Speak (21:23) Sounds to Words: Stage 2, the Ritual Sound Approach, and Letting Kids In on the Plan (32:30) Talking in Therapy but Nowhere Else: Implementation, Untrained Schools, and the SM School Evaluation Form (44:29) Too Comfortable to Move Forward: Measuring the Right Progress and an Eight-Question Reset -  ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: https://selectivemutismcenter.org/resources/  SPECIFIC RESOURCE: https://selectivemutismcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/smart-center-social-comm-bridge.pdf  Ask Dr. E a question of your own!  Learn more about the host, Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum  Explore our SMart Center success stories!  Get started at the SMart Center  Listen to other Unspoken Words episodes here.  For the best clips from every episode, follow the podcast on Instagram & YouTube  Learn more about CommuniCamp, our 3+ day intensive group treatment and ALL DAY parent training & support program Learn more about our self-paced virtual conference, designed for School Psychologists, Psychologists, Physicians, Speech and Language Pathologists, Nurses, Social Workers, Counselors, Marriage & Family Therapists, Educators, Graduate Students, and Families. Eligible for 6.5 credit hours. -  For all podcast inquiries, please contact Dakota Hornak at ⁠dhornak@selectivemutismcenter.org⁠  This podcast was produced and published by New Edition Productions (neweditionconsulting.com)

  2. Sep 28

    From Freezing in Silence to Performing on Stage: Rachel Gordon's Selective Mutism Story

    Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum (Dr. E) reunites with Rachel, who was diagnosed with selective mutism at three and is now a confident young magician who performed at CommuniCamp. Rachel remembers freezing up outside her home and having her silence dismissed as shyness. She shares how scripts, Dr. E's Big Five, and performing magic helped her find her voice. Her advice to parents: progress takes time, so don't give up.Unspoken Words is hosted by Dr. E and the SMart Center and produced by New Editions Productions. Submit questions at SelectiveMutismCenter.org/askdre. Follow @UnspokenWords_Podcast on Instagram and Unspoken Words by Dr. E on YouTube. New episodes release every other Monday at 6am Eastern.

  3. Sep 14

    EP83: The First 30 Days of School Check-In

    Episode 83 of the Unspoken Words podcast features Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum and Dr. Jenna Blum tackling the first 30 days of school. They make the case that the question most parents fixate on — "Is my child going to talk?" — is the wrong one. The better focus is whether a child is becoming comfortable, connected, and confident, since communication follows those pillars, not the reverse. At the heart of the episode is a simple truth: a 504 or IEP is only as good as the interventions written into it. What separates a plan that just seats a child near peers from one that teaches teachers how, when, and with whom to facilitate connection is understanding a child's underlying "whys" — from ADHD to speech-language delays — before the plan is written. The SM School Evaluation Form is what makes that baseline visible. They also unpack why even verbal kids can still lack the initiation and elaboration skills that come from a well-facilitated peer connection, and why a child's high interests — chess, robotics, Peppa Pig — are often the fastest route to friendship at school. Along the way: the "big shot" role, verbal intermediaries, choice questions, and a case study of an older child with speech-language challenges who progressed to verbal — and learned to advocate for his own needs — through nothing more than a few circled choices. The episode closes with a clear marker: thirty days isn't a magic number, but it is a checkpoint. If there's no movement forward by then, it's time to ask not "why won't they talk," but what underlying why might still be missing — because when comfort, connection, and confidence are in place, talking follows. -- Chapters:  (04:12) Stop Asking "Did You Talk?"— the Real Goals of Month One of School (12:27) Screening for the "Whys"—The SM School Evaluation Form and Building a True Baseline (20:07) Chess Clubs and Peppa Pig —Becoming the "Big Shot" and Finding Peers Through High Interests (28:12) Look, Listen, and Learn—Verbal Intermediaries, Seating Charts, and Kids Who Are Verbal But Not Really Communicating (35:47) Circle Your Answer—Meeting a Child Where He Is and Why the 30-Day Check-In Matters

  4. Sep 2

    1 on 1 w/ Christie (a mom whose son was diagnosed with Selective Mutism at 3 years old)

    In this Unspoken Words Short, Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum (Dr. E) sits down with Christie, whose son was diagnosed with selective mutism in 2022 at three and a half years old.Together, they look back on his journey. Christie's son is now a thriving eight-year-old who talks to anyone, rather than the small handful of people he once could. Selective mutism isn't fully behind them, Christie says, but it's something they continue to overcome, thanks to what she's learned at the SMart Center.Christie takes listeners back to the moments that reshaped how she saw her son: learning to look at him as an individual rather than who she expected him to be, and holding onto Dr. E's "look, listen, and learn" approach even when progress didn't move in a straight line. She shares the rose story that has stayed with her ever since — Dr. E's metaphor comparing children to a dozen roses, some blooming right away and one, like her son, tightly closed at first but guaranteed to open in its own time — and how it helped her stop expecting him to share her own outgoing temperament.Christie also describes the turning point that convinced her progress was real: the day her son spoke to a friend's mom during a playdate they'd carefully arranged, which snowballed into him adding more kids, then more adults, into his circle. She talks about the biggest shift she had to make as a parent — slowing down and reflecting on how her son interacts with people before deciding how to help him — and closes with encouragement for any parent who feels discouraged: you're not alone, the resources are there, and while it won't happen overnight, the work pays off.

  5. Aug 24

    EP82: Live Chat w/ Parents @ August CommuniCamp

    Episode 82 of Unspoken Words brings listeners inside CommuniCamp for a roundtable between Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum and three families raising kids with selective mutism, each at a different stage: a couple whose 13-year-old is nearing full recovery after an early setback, a mom whose 8-year-old has progressed everywhere except the classroom, and a couple starting treatment days before their 6-year-old begins a new school. Together they explore not how to make a child talk, but how to prepare them for school — and the world — on their own timeline. The conversation moves from nervous, bracing parents to real hope, anchored in a reframe Dr. E keeps returning to: this isn't "selective mutism," it's "words that get stuck," and that shift in language changes how a school or classmate responds. She traces the idea to her daughter Sophie, whose bat mitzvah project — writing down the unspoken words behind her own silence — gave the podcast its name. The lesson: acknowledging a child's fear instead of dismissing it, and handing them control of their own story, does more than any script. The heart of the episode is practical. Parents and Dr. E trade strategies for the weeks before school starts — walking the halls, meeting teachers early, sending an "about my child" worksheet — plus two mental models for breaking big moments down: the "train ride," which adds one buddy at a time, and the staircase reminder that nobody leaps straight to the second floor. One mom traces her son's path from near-total silence at home as a toddler to being the class clown who still can't speak at school — illustrating "speech phobia" and the ritual sound approach built to treat it, down to the detail that he can say "hop" all day but freezes on a real word like "cat." The group also touches on 504s, IEPs, and homeschooling. The episode closes on one thread: progress isn't measured by how quickly a child starts talking, but by how well the adults around them learn to meet them where they are — one micro step, one unspoken word at a time. -- Chapters:  (01:47) Meet the Families: "Don't Wait, Facilitate" and Walking the Halls Before Day One (11:03) Know Your Strengths: Playdates, Video Calls, and Finding Words for Other Parents (18:13) Words Get Stuck, Not Choices: Sophie's Bat Mitzvah Project and Giving Kids the Pen (27:15) The Train Ride and the Staircase: Breaking Groups Into Steps (and the Truth About Homeschool) (35:00) From 504s to "Cat": Micro Steps, the Bridge Stages, and Cracking Speech Phobia ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: https://selectivemutismcenter.org/resources/  Ask Dr. E a question of your own!  Learn more about the host, Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum  Explore our SMart Center success stories!  Get started at the SMart Center  Listen to other Unspoken Words episodes here.  For the best clips from every episode, follow the podcast on Instagram & YouTube  Learn more about CommuniCamp, our 3+ day intensive group treatment and ALL DAY parent training & support program Learn more about our 6-week, virtual social skills series, which are skills-based groups designed to help children, teens, & young adults build social communication, comfort, and connection with similar aged-peers in a supportive setting.

  6. Aug 17

    1 on 1 w/ Maureen (a mom whose son overcame Selective Mutism)

    In this Unspoken Words Short, Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum (Dr. E) sits down with Maureen, whose son Lucas first came to the SMart Center for treatment at age three. Together in this episode, they to look back on his journey with selective mutism.Lucas is now 16, plays in two rap bands, and has no memory of selective mutism being part of who he is. But Maureen takes listeners back to who he was before treatment: a toddler so verbal at home that it shocked her to learn from his teacher that he'd never once spoken at school, and whose sensory sensitivities to noise, crowds, and textures turned out to be the real root of his silence.Maureen walks through what changed things for her family: discovering "comfort before communication" as the guiding principle of treatment, working with Lucas's school to build in playdates with his teacher, informal "spot work" from a speech therapist, and a buddy system, all before ever pushing him to talk, and learning, as a parent, to step back and stop speaking for him so he could find his own voice.The conversation closes with Maureen's advice for families still early in the journey: that there is real hope on the other side, that following the gains and trusting the process works, and that connecting with someone else going through the same experience can turn an isolating struggle into a shared one.Thank you for listening to Unspoken Words, a selective mutism podcast hosted by Dr. E and the SMart Center, produced by New Editions Productions. Have a question for a future episode? Submit it through the Ask Dr. E form at SelectiveMutismCenter.org/askdre.Follow us on Instagram (@UnspokenWords_Podcast) and YouTube (Unspoken Words by Dr. E), or join our newsletter for more content. New episodes release every other Monday at 6am Eastern. -- ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: ⁠https://selectivemutismcenter.org/resources/⁠  ⁠Ask Dr. E⁠ a question of your own!  ⁠Learn more⁠ about the host, Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum  Explore our⁠ SMart Center success stories⁠!  ⁠Get started⁠ at the SMart Center  Listen to other Unspoken Words episodes⁠ here⁠.  For the best clips from every episode, follow the podcast on⁠ Instagram⁠ &⁠ YouTube⁠  ⁠Learn more about CommuniCamp⁠, our 3+ day intensive group treatment and ALL DAY parent training & support program -  For all podcast inquiries, please contact Dakota Hornak at⁠ ⁠dhornak@selectivemutismcenter.org⁠⁠  This podcast was produced and published by⁠ New Edition Productions⁠ (neweditionconsulting.com)

  7. Aug 10

    1 on 1 w/ Leila (a teen who overcame Selective Mutism)

    This episode of the Unspoken Words podcast is a reunion. Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum sits down with Leila, who first came to the SMart Center for treatment at age 14, to reflect on what actually changes when someone works through selective mutism. Now 20 and heading into her senior year of college as a psychology major, Leila is candid about how unconvinced she was walking in, having spent years being told she was simply anxious or shy. Leila describes what selective mutism looked like from the inside: she was rarely fully mute, but she could not express herself the way she saw other people doing it. She became, in her words, "really good at avoiding situations," and the hardest part was not the silence itself but the loneliness it created. It was not until she attended CommuniCamp and met other teens facing the same struggle that she realized, for the first time, she was not alone. Dr. E and Leila walk through the strategies that moved her forward: scripted interactions at restaurants and bookstores, using her mom as an intermediary before gradually taking over the conversation herself, and building the confidence to initiate on her own. Progress felt slow at first, driven by small wins proving the strategies worked. The episode closes with Leila's advice for families still in the middle of it: for teens who feel hopeless, there is a path forward even if the journey looks different for everyone, and for parents, the work is to listen, offer grace instead of pressure, and hold on to who their child really is underneath the anxiety. As Dr. E reminds her, so much of the process is simply helping a child believe what the people around them already know to be true. ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: https://selectivemutismcenter.org/resources/  Ask Dr. E a question of your own!  Learn more about the host, Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum  Explore our SMart Center success stories!  Get started at the SMart Center  Listen to other Unspoken Words episodes here.  For the best clips from every episode, follow the podcast on Instagram & YouTube  Learn more about CommuniCamp, our 3+ day intensive group treatment and ALL DAY parent training & support program -  For all podcast inquiries, please contact Dakota Hornak at ⁠dhornak@selectivemutismcenter.org⁠  This podcast was produced and published by New Edition Productions (neweditionconsulting.com)

  8. Aug 3

    EP81: Stop Asking "How Do I Get My Child to Talk?”. Ask This instead…

    Episode 81 of the Unspoken Words podcast features Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum and Dr. Jenna Blum returning to the foundation of it all — what S-CAT, or Social Communication Anxiety Treatment, really is, and just as importantly, what it's not. Prompted by families who reached out to the SMart Center still confused about the approach, Dr. E and Dr. Jenna make the case that the question so many parents ask — "How do I get my child to talk?" — is the wrong one. The better question is why is my child not communicating in this situation, because not speaking is only a symptom of something deeper. At the heart of the episode is a simple truth: this is a whole-person approach, not a Band-Aid for a single behavior. Using Dr. Jenna's "cake" analogy, they explain that every child is made of different ingredients — and that missing even one can mean missing a pivotal piece of the picture. That's why selective mutism is best understood not by its stigmatizing name, but as a social communication anxiety disorder with underlying "whys," and why the SM Evaluation is the essential first step in ruling those whys in or out. Dr. E and Dr. Jenna explain why S-CAT is a recipe of evidence-based approaches rather than any single therapy — blending CBT, behavioral exposures, motivational interviewing, insight-oriented work, and intensive parent management. They walk through the baseline stages of the Social Communication Bridge®, the feelings chart and the "sweet spot" that keeps kids growing without tipping into avoidance, and the parent's role as the driver of real progress. Along the way, real stories bring it to life — from a teen learning to get his own tickets at a Phillies game to a nine-year-old who needed structure long after her mutism resolved. The episode closes on a powerful reminder: the longer selective mutism lingers, the more likely it is that a "why" has been missed — and that with the right understanding, no one has to remain selectively mute. -- Chapters:  (03:20) Why "How Do I Get My Child to Talk?" Is the Wrong Question—And What to Ask Instead (10:33) The Bridge, the Baseline, and Why SCAT Is a Recipe—Not a Single Strategy (14:37) Honoring a Child's Feelings and the Parent's Role in Driving Real Progress (26:26) Motivation, the Hidden "Whys," and Why Courage Isn't Always Loud (34:16) The Whole Person Behind the Symptom—And Carrying the Gains Beyond SM -  ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: https://selectivemutismcenter.org/resources/  Ask Dr. E a question of your own!  Learn more about the host, Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum  Explore our SMart Center success stories!  Get started at the SMart Center  Listen to other Unspoken Words episodes here.  For the best clips from every episode, follow the podcast on Instagram & YouTube  Learn more about CommuniCamp, our 3+ day intensive group treatment and ALL DAY parent training & support program Learn more about our 6-week, virtual social skills series, which are skills-based groups designed to help children, teens, & young adults build social communication, comfort, and connection with similar aged-peers in a supportive setting. -  For all podcast inquiries, please contact Dakota Hornak at ⁠dhornak@selectivemutismcenter.org⁠  This podcast was produced and published by New Edition Productions (neweditionconsulting.com)

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Selective Mutism is more than “not talking”—and helping someone with SM starts with understanding why communication is difficult and what to do next. Welcome to Unspoken Words, the podcast dedicated to helping parents, educators, professionals, and individuals better understand and navigate Selective Mutism. Hosted by Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum (Dr. E), a world-renowned Selective Mutism expert with more than 30 years of experience, each episode turns real-life challenges into practical guidance you can actually use. Contact Email: DrE@SMartCenter.us Website: www.SelectiveMutismCenter.org

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