Child Behavior Management Pittsburgh

10/28/2026

The amazing Bria (aka Ms Rachel) of Echo Counseling loves to use kazoos to warm up voices during Social Club! This is a great activity to meet kids wherever they are when they walk in the door, including:

🎃getting physically unstuck (working on raising a hand or putting a kazoo to their mouths)
🎃breathing and humming into the kazoo
🎃playing a tune for the group to guess

Wherever kids are when they walk in the door, we are ready to make brave steps together!

Read more about our Selective Mutism services on our website (link in bio)

10/19/2026

New sign alert 🚨

Excited to have our sign up outside of 733 Washington Road!

Don’t forget to join us at our office for an open house the morning of the Pumpkin Patch Parade! 🎃 See our pinned post above for details:)

10/14/2026

Two important things to know about anxiety in childhood (they might surprise you!):

🎃Anxiety itself? Harmless. Is it uncomfortable? Absolutely! But when we allow ourselves to experience that feeling without interrupting it, the anxiety eventually decreases and we learn we can handle the temporary discomfort.
🎃The most harmful part of anxiety isn’t actually the anxious feeling, but rather what it leads us to do or not do. For many kids, anxiety can lead to avoidance of trying new things, socializing, speaking in public, etc.

If you’re struggling with what to do or say to help your anxious child, you can always reach out to a licensed professional for assistance! At Child Behavior Management Pittsburgh, we offer several modalities of treatment to serve families in multiple ways, including parent anxiety groups, individual family treatment for anxiety, and social skills groups. Click the “work with me” link in our bio to find out more and get started!

10/08/2026

October is Selective Mutism Awareness Month! The more awareness we spread, the quicker families will get access to services, and kids can get back to being kids🧡

Want to know more about our Selective Mutism services? Click the link to our website in our bio to find out more!

10/05/2026

In child anxiety work, we talk about living an “exposure lifestyle” which means we want to make sure we take at least one Brave step per day. This is a great strategy to make sure our brave muscles stay strong and that we continue to remember that anxious feelings are uncomfortable but manageable.

Here are 3 easy ideas to practice bravery in a grocery store!

1. Do a scavenger hunt together! Great for kids who are still working on using their brave voices
2. Answer a question from the cashier. “What’s your name” “how old are you” and “how are you today” are great to practice ahead of time!
3. Take a survey. Practice politely asking each person a question—one of my favorite surveys recently was about favorite vegetables, we got some creative answers!

What else would you add?

09/30/2026

Thank you Dormont Elementary School for hosting Dr. Vaughan today! We were able to speak with 45 educators about Selective Mutism, including:

🍎 What symptoms might show up in the classroom
🍎 What therapists do in the clinic to treat SM
🍎 How teachers can play an integral role in addressing SM at school

Each person who learns about Selective Mutism is one more person that can educate and advocate for our kids! What a joy to speak with you all today!

Visit our website to find out more about options for Selective Mutism treatment. It is always best practice to speak with a licensed provider about your child’s individual needs and treatment.

09/22/2026

What other questions do you ask???

In the next few days I’m going to post a list of “safe” Instagram accounts who provide solid, evidence-based parenting info!

For educational purposes only.

09/18/2026

https://www.behaviormanagementpittsburgh.org/blog/selective-mutism-vs-shyness-how-pittsburgh-parents-can-tell-the-difference

If you've ever stood in a school pickup line watching your child chat easily with you but then go completely silent the second a teacher says hello, you've probably wondered: is this just shyness, or is something else going on?

It's one of the most common questions we hear from parents in our office in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, and it's a good one to ask. Shyness and Selective Mutism can look similar on the surface, but they're not the same thing, and knowing the difference matters for how (and whether) to get support.

If you've ever stood in a school pickup line watching your child chat easily with you but then go completely silent the second a teacher says hello, you've probably wondered: is this just shyness, or is something else going on? It's one of the most common questions we hear from parents in our off

09/17/2026

We are working on putting together book recommendations on our BooK Shop.org affiliate page! Let us know what other kinds of book recommendations you might like for you or your kids!

09/16/2026

Because of the acronym, sometimes parents are confused about PCIT when they start—PCIT shouldn’t be a mystery, and we want you to have as much info as possible, so here are 3 cool facts about Parent Child Interaction Therapy!

1. PCIT certified therapists go through a lot of extra training! In addition to being licensed in their field, therapists attend an intensive training and are required to be supervised while doing their first few cases in order to get the official certification.

2. PCIT can be done in an office or via telehealth! In the office, this looks like me coaching parents from a separate room with walkies while they interact with their child. On telehealth, I ask families to set up a Zoom call so that I can see their play space, and have parents use headphones to hear my coaching. Either way, you’re getting live, in the moment coaching about what to do and say!

3. There are 2 parts to PCIT: relationship building and boundary setting. We first build up skills, and then children are more likely to accept any boundaries we put in place.

What questions do you have about PCIT? Let us know in the comments!



For educational purposes only. Always discuss treatment recommendations with a licensed provider.