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Adventure Camp Intensive Treatment for Selective Mutism for Ages 4-13 in Chicago
July 29 @ 9:00 am – August 1 @ 3:00 pm CDT
Dates: July 9 – 25: Lead-ins booked during this time frame; Camp Week: 7/29/2024 – 8/02/2024; Parent Training 7/27/2024 9:30am-12pm & 7/29 – 8/01 12pm-1pm & 8/02 1pm-2pm
Times: Lead-ins: By appt; Camp week: 9am-3pm M-F daily; Parent Training 9:30am-12pm 7/27, 12pm-1pm 7/29-8/01, and 1pm-2pm 8/02
Location: Chicago, IL suburbs of Oak Brook (for lead-ins) and Elmhurst (for parent training and camp week); Parent Trainings are also recorded for those who can’t attend
Target Audience: Ages 4-13 (older ages considered on a case-by-case basis); Parents for parent training; 7/27 Training is open to campers’ educators as well
To register for camp: https://www.AdvancedTherapeuticSolutions.org/CampRegistration
Description: Adventure Camp (AC) provides 30 hrs (6 hrs per day for 5 days) of direct exposure therapy informed by Kurtz’s PCIT-SM model to shape nonverbal responding into verbal responding. AC focuses heavily on verbalizing in the school setting and generalizing across school staff. Parents are provided with parent training separately in order to maximize the time we have with the students in the school setting, verbally responding to staff without relying on their parents’ presence. This increases the child’s confidence in themselves and less dependence on their parents. Campers’ educators are encouraged to attend the Parent & Teacher Training that occurs on 7/27/2024 (and which is recorded for those who can’t attend) so that the child’s home and school environment can learn the PCIT-SM prompting skills and learn how to reduce enabling in an effective way to maximize treatment carry over into the school setting. Parent training also takes place during camp week on 7/29-8/01 from 12pm-1pm and on 8/02 1pm-2pm. These sessions are also recorded for parents who are unable to attend. The child’s teacher, school social worker, speech pathologist, or anyone else from the child’s team is invited to come observe the skills in action during camp week to help facilitate their learning. Treating the child is not enough – we aim to train parents and educators, too.
We rent out an actual school and use actual classrooms for this school simulation, and the experience is further enhanced by other camps occurring in the same school, really maximizing the opportunity to generalize speaking across adults, peers, places, and activities.
In the afternoons, we load a school bus to field trip events which exposes children to talking to the bus driver, to community members at our field trips, and to community peers, providing opportunities for generalizing speaking outside the school setting as well. Peer-to-peer interaction and social skills are also addressed in the field trip activities.
Treating the child alone is not enough; treating the child’s ecosystem maximizes treatment effect. Therefore, we are known for our success in providing 30 hours of direct therapy to the campers, 8 hours of parent training during camp week, and our collaboration with the campers’ school teams before, during, and after camp to ensure carry over into school.
Contact:
Contact Person: Dr. Carmen Lynas, DrLynas@advancedtherapeuticsolutions.org
To register for camp: https://www.AdvancedTherapeuticSolutions.org/CampRegistration
To speak with our Intake Coordinator: Call 630-230-6505 or email Intake@AdvancedTherapeuticSolutions.org
For more information, visit: https://www.advancedtherapeuticsolutions.org/selectivemutism
