Services

 

Join our weekly drop in group coaching services. This is an opportunity for parents to connect with one another under the guidance of an SM expert.

 

The group coaching sessions are personally moderated by Dr. Bork and run every Saturday. Please see our Event page to sign up!

 

Dr. Bork is renowned for her expertise in resolving severe, long standing, and resistant to treatment cases of SM. Not only has she successfully treated her own children while others have failed, she has also resolved many similar cases within hours (not months or years). It is no wonder parents and treating professionals turned to Dr. Bork for help when “nothing is working,” or the “progress is too slow,” or “my child stop progressing.”

One study conducted by Dr. Bork demonstrated the success in treating children with SM within 130 minutes each of their time using the VSR technique is published in the peer-reviewed paper “Video self-modeling, fading, and reinforcement: An effective treatment of children with selective mutism” in Journal of Clinical Child Psychology and Psychiatry (2019).

For Schools: A Child Who Does Not Speak At School

A virtual or on site consultation with school personnel to discuss specific student needs and offer suggestions for accommodations and school-based intervention plan using the VSR method that has proven to treat SM in less than 3 hours of each child’s time.

This consultation focuses on assisting your child fully immersing themselves in the school. Specifically, with activities that foster speech. As a result, becoming fully verbal at school.

Contact for more details.

For Families: A Child Who Does Not Speak Outside Of The School

A virtual or on site consultation with care-takers (parents, grandparents, baby-sitters) to develop a home and community based intervention plan using the VSR method that has proven to treat SM in less than 3 hours of each child’s time.

To put it another way, this consultation aims improves the child’s ability to freely speak to every one at home and within their community.

Contact for more details.

The Empirical Research on Selective Mutism and the Prospect of Treatments Using Innovative Technology

To the best of our knowledge, Dr. Bork is the first researcher to propose using software applications to help shape verbal behaviour (Bork, 2010). As a result, In this workshop, Dr. Bork shares her current research and the implication of using virtual reality for SM intervention.

Moreover, Dr. Bork also discusses her next project with researchers from Computer Science and Mathematics using Machine Learning (a branch of Artificial Intelligence) to treat SM.

We encourage researchers, budding researchers, and or individuals who are interested in learning more about SM and wish to collaborate on research studies to attend.

Contact for more details.

Mixed Group: A Child Who Does Not Speak Anywhere

A virtual or on site consultation with all the stakeholders (classroom teachers, parents) to discuss how to develop and implement an individualized SM intervention for a child in all settings at once using the VSR method, which has proven to treat SM under 3 hours of each child’s time.

Contact for more details.

Virtual Skills 'VSR' method - Training Workshop

This workshop is designed for anyone who interacts with a child with selective mutism (SM) in a school setting. For instance, principals, teachers, speech-language pathologists, communicative disorders assistants, social workers, child & youth workers, educational assistants, psychologists, custodians, and librarians. Parents and other health care professionals will benefit from attending this as well.

This workshop presents the most up-to-date resources on SM. These resources include case studies on  etiology, prevalence, effects of SM as well as assessment and treatment approaches. Additionally, participants learn how to set up an inclusive and inviting learning environment, and to provide accommodations for the child in the school.

Furthermore, participants will learn why some school-based interventions do not work, and why the “VSR” method (coined by Dr. Bork) is the most effective approach for SM intervention.

Ultimately, Dr. Bork equips participants with the knowledge to develop their own individualized SM intervention based on the VSR technique.

Contact for more details.

Consultations

The following consultations are designed for all, parents, treating professionals, teachers, family members and friends.

Selective Mutism Consultation for Parents / Family

A major part of your child’s mutism is a learned adjustment to his/her (anxiety-provoking social) environment, and been reinforced over time. In order for your child to break the mutism cycle, his/her social environment requires gradual and structured modification. While SM is most predominate inside the school and the focus of the intervention should occur within the school to treat “symptom at its source”, parents must be prepare to become the interventionist outside the school. This consultation will arm parents not only with empirical based knowledge but also those of Dr. Bork’s (mother of 3 children with SM) personal experience of helping her children overcome SM. Parents will also learn about the VSR method that has proven to treat SM in less than 3 hours of each child’s time, and how they may implement this on their own!”

Contact for more details.

Selective Mutism Consultation for Treating Professionals / Psychologists / Pediatricians

This consultation aims to disseminate various empirical-based  treatments for SM, along with detailed information of the pros and cons of each. Specific information such as etiology, prevalence, onset as well as diagnostic criteria will be discussed. Also, specific in-patient and out-patient treatment techniques along with a detailed discussion of a multi-model treatment approach that are rooted in behavioural, psychological, and biological mechanism. Specific modalities including various exposure based, modeling, and when to involve medication (and which type) will be discussed. Finally, the VSR combined technique that has proven to treat SM within 3 hours of each child’s time will be highlighted.

Contact for more details.

Selective Mutism Consultation for Educators / Professionals

This one-day consultation teaches participants how to create an individualized school-based intervention program along with pedagogical approaches to help students to start speaking in school. Specifically, health care professionals, SLPs and CDAs are encouraged to participate.

Topics of discussion include causes of SM, various intervention techniques including those with psychoeducational and pharmacological components. In addition, Dr. Bork’s VSR method that has proven to treat SM in less than 3 hours of each child’s time.

Contact for more details.