A Speech Language Pathologist on Selective Mutism, Pathological Demand Avoidance and So Much More | Ep. 162

About this episode

Casey interviews speech language pathologist Stephanie Harrigan about selective mutism, feeding therapy, and effective advocacy for neurodiverse children.

I speak with Stephanie Harrigan, a certified speech language pathologist with nearly fifteen years of experience working with the neurodiverse population, to talk about selective mutism, feeding therapy and more. Stephanie brings a regulation-first, child-led approach to all of her work, and this conversation is full of concrete examples from her practice, including what feeding therapy actually looks like when it follows the child's lead, how she has worked with selectively mute children, and what she has seen happen to communication when behavioral pressure is removed. We also talk about how to advocate effectively with a school team and what research Stephanie uses when making the case for a non-behavioral approach. Stephanie can be reached at Inclusive Minds Educational Consulting via inclusivemindsllc@gmail.com . She also shared some links to research and resources: https://scerts.com/ https://www.ted.com/talks/amy_laurent_compliance_is_not_the_goal_letting_go_of_control_and_rethinking_support_for_autistic_individuals https://tiltparenting.com/2025/01/21/episode-424-creating-neurodiversity-affirming-schools-with-amanda-morin-emily-kircher-morris/…

People in this episode

Host: Casey

Guest: Stephanie Harrigan

Topics covered

• selective mutism
• pathological demand avoidance
• feeding therapy
• neurodiversity
• child-led approach
• advocacy in schools

Keywords

• selective mutism
• feeding therapy
• neurodiversity
• child-led approach
• advocacy
• communication
• behavioral pressure

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Inclusive Minds Educational Consulting, SCERTS, TED, Tilt Parenting, PMC, AANE

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