‘Creating Safety Before Speech: A Nervous System Approach to Selective Mutism’ is being run with a practical focus which is research-based. It is ideal for those who are new to the topic, and for those who have an awareness of selective mutism and are looking to further their knowledge, understanding, and skills. Rather than focusing on verbal output, the webinar explores communication through a brain-body and nervous system framework, understanding why children freeze, mask, or shut down even when language and cognitive skills are present.

Recording for delegates

About the session

Selective mutism is often approached as a speech or behavioural difficulty. However, for many children, silence is better understood as a nervous system response to perceived threat. In this talk, Anna Biavati reframes selective mutism as a form of protective shutdown, where the voice is not absent but waiting for safety.

Anna explores how anxiety, pressure, and relational dynamics influence the body–brain–voice connection, including in bilingual children. The presentation introduces a nervous-system-informed framework that integrates movement, emotional regulation, and family dynamics as foundations for communication.

Rather than focusing on techniques to elicit speech, this session highlights why pressure-based or exposure-led approaches can unintentionally increase shutdown. Through practical examples, case reflections, and accessible neuroscience, Anna demonstrates how safety, predictability, and co-regulation create the conditions for brave communication to emerge naturally.

This talk offers a clear reframe of progress and equips attendees with practical insights to support readiness for communication before words.

Learning outcomes

• Identify selective mutism as a nervous-system-based protective response rather than a speech or behavioural disorder.
• Explain how safety, emotional regulation, and bodily readiness influence a child’s ability to communicate.
• Recognise how adult expectations, family dynamics, and relational pressure can unintentionally maintain communication shutdown.
• Apply simple, body-based and relational strategies that support regulation and readiness before speech.
• Reframe progress in selective mutism by recognising all forms of communication and help parent how to support and not rescue

About the speaker

Anna Biavati is a Speech and Language Therapist and founder of Steps to Brave Talking Therapy and Support. She works with children with selective mutism and anxiety, and provides training and guidance to professionals supporting them and their families. Drawing on over 15 years of international experience, Anna combines brain-body science, movement, emotional regulation, and a Family Dynamic Approach. She developed the Brave Muscle Method to reframe speech as a capacity that grows through safety, not pressure, when the nervous system is ready.