Is your child struggling to speak in public settings?
Does your child speak openly at home but appear to freeze in front of others? Perhaps their teachers have said that your child is overly shy and that they are not participating in class. Has your child been diagnosed with Selective Mutism (SM) by their pediatrician? People with Selective Mutism can communicate at home with family but struggle to speak comfortably in other settings. You may not have noticed that your child had symptoms of SM because they are always talking at home.
Even though things are difficult now, there are specific, empirically-supported approaches that can improve your child’s comfort speaking in public. Our approach is solution-oriented. We help to develop a clear plan of action to improve your child’s social communication skills.
What can we do over the summer to help?
The Mighty Mouth Kids Camp in New Jersey is an annual intensive treatment program designed to help children with Selective Mutism quickly make progress in communicating before they return to school in the fall. This week-long camp replicates a school/camp setting with a 1:1 counselor-to-child ratio.
The camp is designed for children ages 3 to 8 with Selective Mutism. Campers have the opportunity to practice brave talking in play situations, at lunch and snack time, in a classroom setting, and in community settings on fun field trips. The goal of the camp is to help Campers be able to engage with their peers, raise their hand and ask questions to adults, present in front of a class, and speak in community settings.
Why an intensive program?
Our camp treatment program gives children with Selective Mutism the opportunity to be in therapy for consecutive days as opposed to traditional therapy which may occur weekly over several months. This intensive model allows for quicker progress that will help set your child up for success in the next school year.
Mighty Mouth Kids Camp New Jersey is an empirically supported intensive group treatment for children who have SM modeled after the intensive group program developed by Dr. Steven Kurtz.
How are parents involved?
Parents are such a key part of the work that we do. The camp includes virtual parent training sessions in late July and live parent coaching. Parents also serve as their child’s counselor for the first and last day of camp. Essentially, parents are trained to be their child’s coach to continue generalization of skills beyond the camp week.
What are the dates for Summer 2024?
Camp will be held August 5th through August 9th, 2024. Lead-in sessions will be held the week prior, July 29th through August 1st, 2024.
We want to get to know your family before camp begins! We always schedule a time to meet with your family prior to the start date to complete an intake and make sure the week is tailored to your specific speaking goals. Additionally, camp also includes “lead-in” sessions. These sessions are scheduled the week before camp begins and are designed to help your child succeed at camp.
What are the fees?
All new patients at Caring Cove are required to complete an intake evaluation, billed at $500. This is conducted as follows:
- 60-minute caregiver-only intake session (held virtually or at our office)
- 60-minute caregiver-child observation session held at our office in Chatham, NJ
- 30-minute caregiver-only feedback session (held via phone call, virtually, at our office)
Once this intake is complete, the intake clinician will confirm treatment recommendations with the caregiver, including MMK-NJ camp eligibility.
The total cost of camp is $3,250. This includes the following therapeutic services to specifically target SM:
- 4 hours of caregiver-specific training in the skills used by PCIT-SM certified clinicians
- 1 hour pre-camp child group session
- 5 day camp (with 5 hours of therapeutic intervention each day)
- 1 hour post-camp caregiver-only feedback session
*Please note, lead-in sessions are held prior to the start of camp to systematically fade-in our clinicians and counselors. The number of lead-in sessions can vary depending on your child’s needs, however, we anticipate between 1 and 4 sessions will be necessary before camp begins. Lead-in sessions are held at our office, are 45 minutes in length, and are billed at $200 each.
We do not participate in any insurance plans. However, we provide detailed, itemized invoices through our patient portal for you to submit to your insurance company.
Registration for Summer 2024 is now open!
If you are interested in learning more, we invite you to call our center at (973) 370-9944 or email us at admin@caringcove.com to schedule a free 15-minute phone screening call to see if we are a good fit. We look forward to hearing from you.
