This document was last updated July 14, 2026.
1. Acknowledgement and acceptance of terms
The Selective Mutism Association is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Statement sets forth our current privacy practices with regard to the information we collect when you or your computer interact with our website. By accessing the Selective Mutism Association, www.selectivemutism.org, you acknowledge and fully understand the Selective Mutism Association Privacy Statement and freely consent to the information collection and use practices described in this Website Privacy Statement.
2. Participating merchant policies
Related services and offerings with links from this website, including vendor sites, have their own privacy statements that can be viewed by clicking on the corresponding links within each respective website. Online merchants and others who participate in the Selective Mutism Association services are encouraged to participate in industry privacy initiatives and to take a responsible attitude towards consumer privacy. However, since we do not have direct control over the policies or practices of participating merchants and other third parties, we are not responsible for the privacy practices or contents of those sites. We recommend and encourage that you always review the privacy policies of merchants and other third parties before you provide any personal information or complete any transaction with such parties.
3. Information we collect and how we use it
The Selective Mutism Association collects certain information from and about its users three ways: directly from our Web Server logs, the user, and with Cookies.
a. Web Server Logs.
When you visit our Website, we may track information to administer the site and analyze its usage. Examples of information we may track include:
- Your Internet protocol address.
- The kind of browser or computer you use.
- Number of links you click within the site.
- State or country from which you accessed the site.
- Date and time of your visit.
- Name of your Internet service provider.
- Web page you linked to our site from.
- Pages you viewed on the site.
b. Use of Cookies
The Selective Mutism Association may use cookies to personalize or enhance your user experience. A cookie is a small text file that is placed on your hard disk by a Web page server. Cookies cannot be used to run programs or deliver viruses to your computer. Cookies are uniquely assigned to you, and can only be read by a Web Server in the domain that issued the cookie to you.
One of the primary purposes of cookies is to provide a convenience feature to save you time. For example, if you personalize a web page, or navigate within a site, a cookie helps the site to recall your specific information on subsequent visits. Hence, this simplifies the process of delivering relevant content and eases site navigation by providing and saving your preferences and login information as well as providing personalized functionality.
The Selective Mutism Association reserves the right to share aggregated site statistics with partner companies, but does not allow other companies to place cookies on our website unless there is a temporary, overriding customer value.
You have the ability to accept or decline cookies. Most Web browsers automatically accept cookies, but you can usually modify your browser setting to decline cookies. If you reject cookies by changing your browser settings then be aware that this may disable some of the functionality on our Website.
c. Personal Information Users
Visitors to our website can register to purchase services. When you register, we will request personal data such as your name, address, email, telephone number, or other relevant details. If you are purchasing a service, we may request financial information. Any financial information collected is used only to bill you for the services you purchase.
The Selective Mutism Association does not store complete credit card or payment information. Membership payments are securely processed by Stripe, and donation payments are completed through PayPal. Payment card information is processed by these third-party payment providers and is not stored by SMA. SMA may have access to limited payment details, such as the card type and last four digits, for transaction reference purposes.
You may also be asked to disclose personal data to us so that we can provide assistance and information to you, such as online technical support and troubleshooting.
We will not disclose personally identifiable data we collect from you to third parties without your permission except to the extent necessary, including:
- To fulfill your service requests for services,
- To protect ourselves from liability,
- To respond to legal process or comply with law, or
- In connection with a merger, acquisition, or liquidation of the company.
4. Use of web beacons or gif files
The Selective Mutism Association/www.selectivemutism.org Web pages may contain electronic images known as Web beacons – sometimes also called single-pixel gifs – that allow the Selective Mutism Association to count users who have visited those pages and to deliver co-branded services. The Selective Mutism Association may include Web beacons in promotional e-mail messages or newsletters in order to determine whether messages have been opened and acted upon.
Some of these Web beacons may be placed by third party service providers to help determine the effectiveness of our advertising campaigns or email communications. These Web beacons may be used by these service providers to place a persistent cookie on your computer. This allows the service provider to recognize your computer each time you visit certain pages or emails and compile anonymous information in relation to those page views, which in turn enables us and our service providers to learn which advertisements and emails bring you to our website and how you use the site. The Selective Mutism Association prohibits Web beacons from being used to collect or access your personal information.
5. EU Data Subject Rights
The GDPR provides certain rights for individuals. If you are an EU Data Subject, you may request information about:
- the purpose of processing;
- the categories of personal data concerned;
- third parties that may have received your personal data from us; and
- how long your personal data will be stored.
You have the following rights:
- To be informed about the personal data that is collected about you;
- To access the personal data that is collected about you;
- To correct or update your personal data record maintained by us if it is inaccurate;
- Subject to certain exceptions, to request that we erase your personal data or cease processing your personal data;
- To restrict processing of your personal data;
- To receive, or transmit to another controller, personal data concerning you that you have submitted to us;
- To object to the processing of your personal data; and
- To request reasonable access to your personal data at no cost and within a reasonable time frame.
To exercise these rights, please contact us at info@selectivemutism.org with “EU Privacy Rights Request” in the subject line. If we cannot fulfill these rights within a reasonable time frame, we will provide you with a date when the information will be provided. If for some reason access is denied, we will provide an explanation as to why access has been denied. In many countries, you have a right to lodge a complaint with the appropriate data protection authority if you have concerns about how we process your personal data.
Personal data will be processed for the following lawful basis:
- Processing is necessary for the performance of a contract or, at your request, to take steps prior to entering into a contract;
- The data subject has given consent to the processing of his or her personal data for one or more specific purposes; or
- Processing is necessary for the legitimate interests of the controller or by a third party, except where such interests are overridden by the interests of the data subject.
6. Accessing web account information and deletion of information
We will provide you with the means to ensure that personally identifiable information in your web account file is correct and current. You may review this information by contacting us by sending an email to our support attendant — info@selectivemutism.org. We will use reasonable efforts to update or delete information we have stored in our databases and otherwise, however we cannot guarantee that all instances of all data collected will be permanently removed or will be updated according to your request except as may be required by applicable law. In addition, we cannot be responsible for the modification or deletion of any information we have provided to third parties as described herein, although we will notify those third parties of your request if required by applicable law.
7. Changes to this statement
The Selective Mutism Association has the discretion to occasionally update this privacy statement. When we do, we will also revise the “updated” date at the top of this Privacy page. We encourage you to periodically review this privacy statement to stay informed about how we are helping to protect the personal information we collect. Your continued use of the service constitutes your agreement to this privacy statement and any updates.
8. Contacting us
If you have questions regarding our Privacy Statement, its implementation, failure to adhere to this Privacy Statement and/or our general practices, please contact us at info@selectivemutism.org or send your comments to:By Mail:
Selective Mutism Association
Attention: Privacy Statement Personal
13750 W. Colonial Dr.
Suite 350 #213
Winter Garden, FL 34787-4204
The Selective Mutism Association will use commercially reasonable efforts to promptly respond and resolve any problem or question.