Dr. Marcus Crenshaw, Director of Clinical Research at the SMart Center, received his MA and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Georgia, and he completed additional post-graduate coursework in family therapy, autism, advanced statistics, and observational research, at Georgia State University and West Georgia College. He is a certified school psychologist and has worked in that capacity for 20 years with children of all ages. Dr. Crenshaw has worked with children and families in a variety of settings, including private and state-run psychiatric treatment facilities, an outdoor therapeutic program, and a facility for children with developmental disabilities. He has also developed numerous anti-bullying programs and has worked with children and adolescents affected.
Inspired by the plight of a child with selective mutism, Dr. Crenshaw vigorously sought a better understanding of the disorder. That search led him to Dr. Elisa Shipon-Blum, and the result of that meeting is a lifelong commitment on his part to working with this population of children and their families. Dr. Crenshaw has received intensive and ongoing training in the treatment of children and adolescents with selective mutism from Dr. Shipon-Blum, and he has been a featured speaker at her conferences.
In addition to his great interest and devotion to therapeutic and consultative work in this area, Dr. Crenshaw is conducting preliminary research into selective mutism at the Smart Center in Phila. PA. Following this preliminary work, Drs. Shipon-Blum and Crenshaw will embark upon a comprehensive program of research aimed at attaining a better understanding of the clinical course of selective mutism, optimal clinical interventions, factors that serve to maintain selective mutism symptomatology, and other areas.
The collaboration of Drs. Crenshaw and Shipon-Blum promises to yield substantial advances in the area of selective mutism, in the areas of treatment, research, and the training of other professionals. Dr. Crenshaw is acutely aware of the lack of understanding regarding selective mutism that is common among treatment and school professionals, and one of his personal goals in this work is to help educate these individuals, so they can provide better assistance to the selectively mute children with whom they have contact.
Read Dr. Crenshaw's most recent writings on: Suggested Guidelines for the Assessment of Children/Adolescents with Selective Mutism