The CCC Kids Camp is a summer camp intensive in the Washington DC area. Our seasoned co-directors offer over two decades of combined experience working with children with SM, have been trained by some of the world’s leading child treatment experts (Dr. Steven Kurtz, Dr. Sheila Eyberg) and most importantly, have experience and history running SM intensives and camps. We have worked hard to build our programming from the ground up, carefully refining program elements over time and grounding them in the evidence-based PCIT for SM protocol developed by Dr. Steven Kurtz.

30 hours of massed practice leads to faster gains and more momentum compared to once weekly appointments.
You get significantly more treatment hours for your financial investment.
Timing of camp is strategically designed to provide a boost in confidence and skills prior to the start of a new school year.
Children generalize to speak with up to 20 new individuals in camp within the course of a week!
Subsequent fade in sessions at your child’s school and training of school staff can help kids generalize the skills to school after camp.

The CCC Kids Camp is a day camp experience in a school setting which provides intensive behavioral treatment for children between the ages of four and nine with SM and/or severe social anxiety. We also offer opportunities for older children to participate in camp in a helper role. Our goal is to build your child’s confidence with speaking and engaging in activities with others directly prior to the return to school. The CCC Kids Camp is a structured experience in which children participate in a variety of engaging activities including outdoor sports, arts and crafts, and music. We also practice participating in typical classroom activities such as circle time, morning meeting, and center work. Other activities include checking out library books, making requests, and ordering food. These activities provide children with hands on practice in verbal participation with intensive and individualized support and reinforcement for brave behavior. Our camp also includes 6 hours of parent training and consultation with the goal of helping parents become effective advocates and bravery coaches for their children. Parents receive group-based didactic training and practice in use of therapeutic skills, access to training videos, and live parent coaching and involvement during our camp. Lastly, within the school setting, we actively encourage the transfer of skills and speech to the classroom setting through inclusion of a 60-minute school session in our camp package. School sessions typically involve teacher training and consultation as well as an individual meeting with the child and teacher to facilitate the transfer of speech.

The CCC camp is based on the PCIT-SM approach developed by Dr. Steve Kurtz through which Brave Buddies was established. Our staff are extensively trained in utilizing this protocol for eliciting and encouraging speech and social interaction throughout the camp week.

For more details, please contact Dr. O'Brien by email at kobrien@alvordbaker.com or leave a detailed message with your name and contact information at 301-593-5554, ext. 41. Registration requires a deposit and completion of a 60-minute intake at our current rate. We will assess your child's fit for our program during the intake and provide treatment recommendations. We require that each child has at least some speech with a therapist prior to starting the program. Your child may need to participate in lead in sessions to reinforce one to one speech with a therapist prior to starting in our program. Lead in sessions are charged at our regular rate for a 45-minute session.

Dates of Summer intensive 2022: 9am - 2pm, August 8-12

Location: St. Andrew's Episcopal School, 8804 Postoak Road, Potomac, MD 20854

Cost: Our 5-day program is $2,900. Register by April 1st and receive the discounted rate of $2,600.

Download Camp 2022 Registration Form: PDF

We utilized the Selective Mutism Questionnaire (SMQ), a well-validated rating scale that assesses the frequency of speech and social communication of children with Selective Mutism across multiple settings. We also used the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire (CSQ), a measure assessing client satisfaction with the program. 70% of parents of our campers (N=7) agreed to participate in our research. Each parent completed a survey prior to camp and one-month post camp. We are pleased to share that significant and meaningful changes were reported across settings, including at school when children began the new school year! We believe our success is due to careful program planning, hands-on training and ongoing supervision for our staff, and individual tailoring of goals and strategies to each camper’s needs. We strive to make sure the program works for you and your child.

Average Improvement in Speech/Communication:

Average of an 84% increase in speech/communication at school
Average of a 30% increase in speech/communication at home
Average of a 77% increase in speech/communication in the community
Average of a 64% total increase in speech/communication across settings

Reliable Change: In addition, 71% of campers participating in our research demonstrated reliable positive change across all settings and 100% of participating campers demonstrated reliable positive change in the school setting (i.e., the reliable change indices were significant). This means that their observable positive change is real and stable, not something likely due to chance or error in measurement.

Client Satisfaction: 85.7% of parents participating in our survey rated the quality of service as excellent and 14.3% rated the quality as good. 71.4% of parents said they would definitely return to our program should they need support again and 14.3% said they would probably return.

Parents of Campers Say......

“We are thrilled at the progress our 4-year-old son made at CCC camp. He went from not speaking above an occasional whisper for an entire year at preschool, to speaking and interacting normally the following year in pre-K, and this was in large part due to his week at camp. The supportive staff, one-on-one therapy, and activities designed to mimic a school day while remaining fun made such a difference for him and us. We would recommend this camp in a heartbeat.”

“My daughter is a completely different child after attending the camp this Summer. She is more Brave, Confident and is fully verbal with teachers and students this year in Kindergarten after going 3 years of preschool never speaking to anyone. She has given presentations in front of the class, eats with other students and goes to the bathroom at school all of which were problems for her previously. The camp helped to model for me as her mother ways to interact and talk with her to create the least amount of anxiety and how to encourage speech in different ways than I had tried previously. I have recommended this week-long camp to everyone I have talked to that has a child who suffers from Selective Mutism, it has changed my daughter’s and my family’s entire life!”

“My son attended the camp two times. He got a lot out of the camp the second time: he was able to do Show-and-Tell for the first time in his life during the camp! I was very happy and surprised about the tremendous progress he made in talking at the camp! The progress he made at the camp definitely transferred to his regular public school because after attending the camp, he was able to talk to the school nurse in words for the first time in his elementary school years. He liked the camp a lot because it was so much fun.”

Selective Mutism Program

Program Directors

Group Offerings

CCC Kids Camp

Why are Intensive Interventions Beneficial for Selective Mutism?

Description of the CCC Camp Intensive Program

How to Apply

Research Outcomes (From Summer 2018 Camp)

Average Improvement in Speech/Communication:

Parents of Campers Say......