"As a desperate father, I conducted a search on internet to find someone who could help to treat our 9 years old son with Selective Mutism (SM). My search resulted to find Lucy, a young, positive and enthusiastic child therapist who offered parents to help their children with SM. I contacted Lucy and had one-hour face to face skype, I explained to her that our son was fine at the school time and the classroom, spoke to everyone at the school time, however he would not speak to anyone outside school hours, including breakfast club, play scheme and the Art club. During the conversation with Lucy, I realised that she had a very good understanding of the Selective Mutism condition. Lucy assured that she could help and agreed to visit our son’s school to observe and assess him. She kindly visited our son’s school, spoke to my son, observed and assessed his behaviour and following evening she rang me and explained about her observations.
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She suggested that we needed to build a bridge between school time and outside the school hours, following her advice with the help of the school we took action and after less than three months our son spoke every where and his condition improved significantly. During that time, Lucy was in touch with us, contacted our son’s school and advised them accordingly. Thanks to Lucy’s advice our son now speaks everywhere and his SM condition is a history. Last November our son spoke for the first time on his 10th birthday. Once again thank you Lucy for helping our son".
"I found this workshop very informative. Lucy came across as very knowledgable with a vast amount of experience which she creatively implemented into the workshop. Lucy spoke with clarity and really installed confidence into me, especially when giving examples of her work with other children. This workshop was invaluable and I believe it should be available in schools so parents and children are supported more effectively".
CE - parent who attended the workshop for parents of children with Selective Mutism
"The workshop was really informative and well delivered, your enthusiasm is brilliant Lucy!
An enjoyable, empowering day that left me feeling happy and light and most of all confident enough to apply the things I had learned".
Lucy House, mother who attended the workshop for parents of children with Selective Mutism
"My daughter was extremely excited to tell me about the fairy language you used with her. Lucy I would like to acknowledge you for the wonderful work you’re doing with our daughter and for the passion and determination you have for this field. We have not worked with anyone who has impacted our daughter so positively or so quickly, and we have seen many specialists over the 5 years she has been mute. To see such a huge impact after 3 weeks fills us with hope and joy, thank you”.
LH, Mother of a child with Selective Mutism UK, age 8
"I would highly recommend this service to anyone with concerns about their child and SM as a lot of GPs / health visitors etc do not have in depth knowledge on how to deal with SM. We found the info given and strategies to use invaluable. Lucy gave us some good tips and advice on how to deal with our child in different scenarios which has proved very helpful".
PW, Mother of Selectively Mute child, age 4, following phone conversation with Lucy
"This was my first time to consult a child therapist and I am glad I did. I wasn't sure what I was doing and I have learnt what my mistakes are".
AA, Mother of 5 year old child with SM - United Arab Emirates, following phone conversation
"We’d like to thank you once again for your visit to Poland, for your interesting lecture and the opportunity to talk to you. The tips that
you have given us proved to be extremely helpful and we’ve already included them in our workshops and seminars for kindergarten and
school teachers. Looking forward to seeing you once again".
Monika, Katowice Poland
"I felt that Lucy helped me re-focus the action I needed to take with the school with excellent advice. Her ideas and strategies with regard to dealing with SM/anxiety at home were very helpful and hopefully game-changing. I will be giving the Dos and Don’t handout to the school".
LG, Mother of a daugther with SM age 9, following phone conversation with Lucy
"Every parent of a SM child should do this workshop. It will arm you with lots of tips to help your child and how to deal with different situations. Doing the activities in the workshop really helped - it made me think about what to do in certain situations to help initiate speech".
TL, Mother of child with SM who attended the parent workshop
"The most beneficial part of the workshop were the real life examples, meeting other parents and hearing their stories and meeting Lucy who specialises in SM as there aren't many people who do. WE LOVED IT!"
DM and FT, parents who attended the workshop for parents of children with Selective Mutism
"I emailed my sons college with a link to your Do's and don'ts for schools video. They are going to make sure all of his tutors watch it. I am very pleased about this. I know it is aimed at young children but I still think the principles are the same. I told my son I had done his after I had sent it. He was annoyed, I asked why and he said all of the videos he had ever watched about Selective Mutism were not always relevant to him. I asked him to watch your video. After watching it he was glad that I had sent it to his college. I think you are doing amazing work for people with SM".
Isabel P, UK
"Lucy is a natural communicator who possesses a real talent for building rapport with others. She is immensely committed to her work and always shows 100% commitment. Her enthusiasm is infectious!".
Dr Naomi Winstone
Director of Undergraduate Studies - University of Surrey
“Lucy has a lively and engaging personality and superb social skills. She is very sensitive to the needs of young people and she relates naturally to them. There is no question that Lucy is one of those rare individuals who gives her all to any role that she takes on and makes a huge success of all her activities”.
Professor Martyn Barrett, Developmental Psychologist
"Lucy was on placement in a range of schools in Lambeth. She is passionate about working with vulnerable children. The schools reported Lucy to be committed, sensitive and an enthusiastic person and that her work with children was felt successful and valued".
Laurence Hime, Principal Educational Psychologist - Lambeth Educational Psychology Service
"Lucy’s passion for helping children resulted in an enormously successful fund raising appeal to buy not just one but three cows for needy schools in Mukono, Uganda. Many children now benefit from having milk for breakfast! Lucy’s exuberance, passion and businesslike approach appeals to all those who meet her and a lot of children have benefitted from Lucy’s support".
Sally Edie MBE
Trustee for Guildford Mukono Link
"I am so happy for the opportunity to speak with someone with experience and knowledge about SM. Here in my country there's very little information and very little knowledge it seems. I am completely satisfied with the help I got, I just wish there would be people like you in Sweden. It would be great to have someone specialized as you are to work with at school".
NK, Mother of 5 year old child with SM following Skype conversation
"Thank you so much for today. My husband and I are going through the storm of our life and every time you come to our house we feel like you are the sunshine. It's amazing that you made Wendy talk freely wih you, without our presence, in only 3 sessions! (we had 24 sessions previously with an SLT and she did not talk directly to the lady and absolutley nothing if I left the room). It's so nice to see her so happy. Thank you so much and we are looking forward to seeing you next week"
PW, mother of a child with Selective Mutism, age 4
Feedback following presentation by Lucy Nathanson at the SMIRA (Selective Mutism Information and Research Association) conference 2015
"It was lovely to be in the room yesterday with so many people in the same situation as myself. The highlight for me was the talk by Lucy Nathanson. It was lovely to hear and get advice from an understanding professional"
"I agree about Lucy... was fantastic to listen to her ideas!"
"Your presentation was really excellent Lucy!"
"The highlight for me was Lucy's talk and really wish she was there for longer as so much of what she said made a lot of sense to our situation. Would love to listen to her speak again"
"I have just watched your video, shared it on my fb page and will be giving a link to my daughters' school. Really good stuff. Thank you so much for your talk today"
"The talks were really interesting, especially the one by Lucy (I was trying not to cry when she talked about John, how much of a difference she made to his life is amazing)"
"Really enjoyed your talk today. Highlighting those three crucial points that are needed to make
support effective are so true. Looking forward to watching your YouTube video"