Stop the punishment in schools of children with Selective Mutism by educating teachers on this extreme anxiety disorder

Many children with Selective mutism have been punished for not speaking in schools because of the lack of knowledge our teachers have on this anxiety disorder.Selective mutism is defined as an anxiety or social phobia disorder which cause a child not to be able to speak in certain situations.It is as though their voice box freezes.The goal with an SM child is to bring anxiety levels down but sadly because our teachers are not educated on it, many children get pushed further into their SM by being punished in preschools and elementary school.We must at the very least provided ALL schools with literature as to what to look for and how to handle a suspected case.Selective mutism is twice as common as Autism yet there is no research and no training of school teachers.