Understanding Selective Mutism with Elisa Shipon-Blum

Elisa Shipon-Blum, DO – or Dr. E, as her patients call her – is the President and Director of the Selective Mutism Anxiety and Related Disorders Treatment Center (SMart Center). She is a board certified physician who specializes in Selective Mutism. Over the past 30 years, Dr. E has helped thousands of children, teens, and adults from around the world overcome Selective Mutism. Notably, the inspiration of her work comes from her daughter, Sophia, who suffered from and overcame Selective Mutism.

She is the Founder and Director Emeritus of the Selective Mutism Association (SMA). She is also the Director of the Selective Mutism Research Institute (SMRI), a foundation established to study Dr. Shipon-Blum’s theories and treatment methodologies on Selective Mutism.

As an Osteopathic physician, Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum focuses on the whole person and not a symptom. She views SM as a social communication anxiety where mutism is merely a symptom.

Dr. E developed the evidenced-based Social Communication Anxiety Treatment (S-CAT)®. According to Dr. E’s work, The key to an effective treatment plan is understanding factors that contribute to the development and maintenance of SM (The Why’s of SM) as well as understanding an individual’s baseline stage of social communication on the Social Communication Bridge©. Then, working as a team; the treatment professional, parents, and school staff, help the individual build coping skills to combat anxious feelings and to progress across the Social Communication Bridge©. Leveraging her effective S-CAT® program, Dr. E crea… Read More