When a Child Struggles to Speak at School
Understanding Selective Mutism, Anxiety and Communication in Primary Schools
A practical, specialist training for primary school staff who want to understand what is happening underneath the silence — and know what to do next.
Learn how to reduce communication pressure, recognise progress beyond speech and use practical strategies that support participation and communication throughout the school day.
1.5 hours recorded training | 4 months’ access | Practical resources | Certificate available on request
Individual access: £49
Training your whole school?
Whole-School Training Package available below.
“They talk all the time at home. Why don’t they speak at school?”
What do you do when a child can talk confidently at home, yet struggles to speak at school?
Perhaps they communicate with friends but not adults. They may answer one familiar teacher but freeze with another. They might find it difficult to ask for help, tell someone when something is wrong, use the toilet, participate in group work or speak when they know other people can hear them.
For school staff, this can be confusing.
We naturally want to encourage children to speak.
We may reassure them that we know they can do it, ask questions to help them join in or celebrate enthusiastically when we finally hear their voice.
But when anxiety is sitting underneath the difficulty, even well-intentioned encouragement can create additional pressure.
That is why I always say:
“Whenever I’m stuck, I look underneath first.”
This training will help you do exactly that.
Understanding is important. Knowing what to do next matters too.
Knowing that a child has selective mutism doesn’t necessarily tell you what to do when they cannot answer the register, ask to go to the toilet, speak during group work or respond to an adult they don’t yet feel comfortable with.
Instead of beginning with:
“How can we get this child to talk?”
we begin by asking:
“What is happening underneath, and what does this child need from us in order to feel safe enough to communicate?”
This training brings understanding and practical application together.
We will look at anxiety, communication, the brain and nervous system, and then translate that understanding into practical steps you can use throughout the school day.
Understand → Observe → Reduce Pressure → Create Safety → Identify the Next Step → Review
Progress The aim is for you to finish the training not simply knowing more about selective mutism but feeling clearer about the child in front of you and what you can do next.
What’s included?
• 1.5 hours of specialist recorded training with Anna Biavati, Specialist Speech & Language Therapist
• 4 months’ access from the date of enrolment
• Practical downloadable resources to support implementation
• Step-by-step strategies for primary school
• Certificate of completion available on request
What will you learn?
By the end of the training, you will have a clearer understanding of:
• What selective mutism is and how it may present in primary school
• Why a child may speak confidently in one situation but become unable to speak in another
• The role of anxiety, the brain and nervous system
• Why speech should not always be our first measure of progress
• How adult language and expectations can unintentionally increase communication pressure
• What teachers and support staff can do differently
• How to recognise and support communication beyond spoken words
• Practical strategies for the classroom and wider school environment
• How to build communication gradually through manageable steps
• Why observation needs to come before intervention
• How parents, school staff and professionals can work together
• How to recognise meaningful progress even before speech begins to change
Most importantly, the emphasis is on practical application. You should leave the training with a clearer understanding of the individual child and concrete changes you can begin making within the school day.
Who is this training for?
This course is suitable for:
• Primary school teachers
• Teaching assistants
• Learning support staff
• SENCO/ASN staff
• Pastoral and wellbeing staff
• School leaders
• Other professionals supporting primary-aged children
No previous specialist knowledge of selective mutism is required. You can access the training as an individual professional or purchase a Whole-School Training Package.
Why does a whole-school approach matter?
A child should not have to navigate a completely different response from every adult they meet.
One teacher may understand that reducing pressure helps and comfortably accept a nod, gesture or another form of communication. Another adult, with equally good intentions, may repeatedly encourage the child to “use your voice” or “have a go”.
For a child already managing communication anxiety, those changing expectations can make school harder to navigate.
This is why support for selective mutism cannot sit with only one knowledgeable teacher, teaching assistant or SENCO.
When the adults around a child understand what may be happening underneath the difficulty and respond consistently, school becomes more predictable — and predictability can help create safety.
We need to speak the same language.
Progress is bigger than speech
When a child has selective mutism, it can be tempting to measure progress by one thing:
“Did they speak?”
But important changes can happen before spoken communication changes.
Perhaps the child begins walking into the classroom more comfortably. They join a group rather than watching from the edge. They laugh with another child. They begin pointing, nodding or communicating in another way. They approach an adult for help. They stay in an activity that they previously avoided.
These changes matter.
When we learn to notice them, we can support the child from where they are now rather than constantly measuring them against where we want them to be.
Safety comes before speech.
Meet Anna
Anna Biavati
Specialist Speech & Language Therapist
I have worked as a Speech and Language Therapist for over 20 years, including 13 years within the NHS, and have spent many years supporting children, young people and families affected by selective mutism, anxiety and communication difficulties.
My clinical work begins with a question I return to again and again: “Whenever I’m stuck, I look underneath first.”
Rather than beginning with speech, I look at what may be happening underneath the difficulty including anxiety, regulation, relationships, environment and the young person’s current level of safety.
This training brings that same way of thinking into your school, helping you move from simply understanding selective mutism to knowing how to observe, respond and decide what to do next.
Progress is bigger than speech
Individual Professional Access — £49
For teachers, teaching assistants, SENCO/ASN practitioners, therapists and other professionals who want to develop their own understanding and practical skills.
Includes:
• Complete 1.5-hour recorded training
• 4 months’ access from enrolment
• Practical supporting resources
• Certificate of completion available on request £49
£49
Whole-School Training Package — £349
Get your whole school speaking the same language.
One knowledgeable member of staff can make an enormous difference. But when the wider school team understands selective mutism and responds consistently, we can create a safer and more predictable environment for the child.
The Whole-School Training Package gives staff employed within one primary school access to the training for four months.
Rather than training only the member of staff currently supporting a particular child, this option allows the wider team to develop a shared understanding of selective mutism, anxiety and communication.
Staff can complete the training individually at a convenient time, or the school can use it collectively as part of an INSET session, professional learning session or whole-staff meeting.
The Whole-School Training Package includes:
• Complete 1.5-hour recorded professional training
• 4 months’ whole-school access
• Practical supporting resources
• Certificates of completion available on request
• Flexible individual or whole-team learning £349 per primary school
£349 per primary school
This is a single-school licence. Course access and recordings may not be shared with another school, setting, organisation or external professional.
For academy groups, trusts, local authorities or organisations wishing to provide training across multiple schools, please contact us to discuss a multi-school licence.
You don’t need to become a selective mutism specialist overnight.
But when you understand what may be happening underneath the silence, you can begin to change the environment around the child, reduce unnecessary pressure and identify the next manageable step.
Start with understanding. Then know what to do next.