Beyond Answering Questions: Targeting Higher-Level Social Language Goals with Students with SM

Recorded: November 5, 2025 Presented by Emily Laracy, M.A., M.S., CCC-SLP This webinar is geared toward SLPs, treating professionals and educators, but parents and caregivers will also find value! Description: Once students with selective mutism are able to answer questions consistently, what comes next? This session explores how to move beyond simple verbal responding to target more challenging social language skills, such as using greetings and farewells, social niceties, compromising, initiating conversations, stating opinions, and self-advocacy. These higher-level skills are critical for allowing students to participate in meaningful, age-appropriate interactions with peers and adults in the school setting and beyond. Participants will learn strategies to target these skills with their students and discuss practical activities and exposure tasks that can be completed in various settings. Sample goals and time for questions will be provided. Learning Objectives: 1. State 5 common higher-level social language goals appropriate for students with selective mutism who have progressed beyond initial verbal responding 2. Create functional activities to support skills like compromising, expressing opinions, and self-advocacy within school and peer interactions 3. Develop relevant SMART goals that address these higher-level skills Speaker: Emily Laracy, M.A., M.S., CCC-SLP Emily Laracy is a licensed speech-language pathologist who currently works in an elementary school in Eastern PA. Her caseload includes students in grades K-5 with a variety of social, emotional, cognitive, and academic needs, including students with selective mutism. Emily also participates as a counselor at the Child Mind Institute’s Brave Buddies programs for children with selective mutism. Prior to working as a speech pathologist, Emily taught preschool for 10 years and worked one-on-one with a student with selective mutism in this setting. Emily received her M.A. in Applied Developmental Psychology with a focus on Language Acquisition from George Mason University and her M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology from East Stroudsburg University. She continues to conduct and collaborate in research within the speech pathology field through East Stroudsburg University, where she also serves as a guest lecturer for graduate and undergraduate classes. Her professional interests are in helping children with anxiety and communication needs to find the tools to communicate effectively and efficiently with those around them. This webinar is brought to you by the Selective Mutism Association and was made possible by a generous grant from the Gordon and Marilyn Macklin Foundation, Inc.