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.