An 8-year-old saved his classmate's life after seeing him choking in school cafeteria
'There's not enough words to be grateful for saving him.'

Kid's quick acting saved a classmate.
Kids have a habit of picking things up pretty quickly. Usually it's things you wish they wouldn't have learned, like mimicking your frustrated swear words. But sometimes a skill comes in pretty handy, such as for 8-year-old Garrett Brown, who recently saved the life of his classmate at Lakeview Elementary School in Norman, Oklahoma. Garrett was sitting at the lunch table eating with his friends when a boy started to choke on his chicken nuggets, which prompted Garrett to perform the Heimlich maneuver.
You may be wondering where Garrett learned the Heimlich maneuver and the answer is pretty simple: his dad. Garrett told Local 10 News, “My dad taught me whenever I was choking and so, he taught me how to do it in case anybody else was doing it.” It's a good thing Garrett absorbed that life lesson, because it certainly came in handy this school year. The entire situation seems so surreal. According to Good Morning America, the kids were in the cafeteria excitedly chatting away because it was chicken nugget day. The cafeteria only had one monitor at that time and she was on the other side of the room when the incident took place.
When the classmate, Cashton York, began to choke, the kids at the table started yelling for the teacher that was monitoring the cafeteria, but before she could make it across the room, Garrett had jumped into action. The 8-year-old took the skill his father taught him and immediately rushed behind Cashton to administer the two thrusts that caused the chicken nugget to fly out of his mouth.
The whole ordeal left adults impressed at this young child's fast thinking and applied skill. It was so unbelievable that it happened, Jordan Nguyen, the teacher who was monitoring the cafeteria, told GMA, "When it was done, we all took a breath and thought, 'Did that just happen? Was that for real? Did this really just happen?' And we had to go back and watch the security footage just to be sure that 'Oh, that is what happened. Oh, my goodness. It was pretty mind-blowing."
Can you blame them for rolling back the tape? What an amazing thing to witness, and the school felt the same way. Recently Garrett was presented with a "Hero Award" from Lakeview Elementary. Cashton's mom, Tiffany Smith, told KOCO News, "There are not enough words to be grateful for saving him."
It really goes to show how having basic knowledge of life-saving skills can help save a life in unexpected circumstances. The school was so impressed by Garrett's actions that the teachers have started taking classes on basic life skills. But the school isn't stopping there, it will soon be teaching these basic life skills/first aid classes to students in the school—on a kid-friendly level, of course. Nguyen explained to GMA, "That way, if they are out somewhere or if they're home alone, or if they're home with their siblings and something does happen, they'll know what to do."
By knowing this handy life-saving skill, Garrett is changing the way his school operates, though hopefully there's not another need for a student to use a skill like that. These basic skills classes will help the students feel more prepared for emergencies and, let's face it, everyone could use classes like these.
There's a reason why some people can perfectly copy accents, and others can't
Turns out, there's a neurodivergent link.
A woman in black long sleeve shirt stands in front of mirror.
Have you ever had that friend who goes on vacation for four days to London and comes back with a full-on Queen's English posh accent? "Oooh I left my brolly in the loo," they say, and you respond, "But you're from Colorado!" Well, there are reasons they (and many of us) do that, and usually it's on a pretty subconscious level.
It's called "accent mirroring," and it's actually quite common with people who are neurodivergent, particularly those with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder). According Neurolaunch, the self-described "Free Mental Health Library," "Accent mirroring, also known as accent adaptation or phonetic convergence, is the tendency to unconsciously adopt the accent or speech patterns of those around us. This linguistic chameleon effect is not unique to individuals with ADHD, but it appears to be more pronounced and frequent in this population."
Essentially, when people have conversations, we're constantly "scanning" for information—not just the words we're absorbing, but the inflection and tone. "When we hear an accent, our brains automatically analyze and categorize the phonetic features, prosody, and intonation patterns," writes Neurolaunch. For most, this does result in copying the accent of the person with whom we're speaking. But those with ADHD might be more sensitive to auditory cues. This, "coupled with a reduced ability to filter out or inhibit the impulse to mimic…could potentially explain the increased tendency for accent mirroring."
While the article explains further research is needed, they distinctly state that, "Accent mirroring in individuals with ADHD often manifests as an unconscious mimicry of accents in social situations. This can range from subtle shifts in pronunciation to more noticeable changes in intonation and speech rhythm. For example, a person with ADHD might find themselves unconsciously adopting a Southern drawl when conversing with someone from Texas, even if they’ve never lived in the South themselves."
People are having their say online. On the subreddit r/ADHDWomen, a thread began: "Taking on accents is an ADHD thing?" The OP shares, "My whole life, I've picked up accents. I, myself, never noticed, but everyone around me would be like, 'Why are you talking like that??' It could be after I watched a show or movie with an accent or after I've traveled somewhere with a different accent than my 'normal.'
They continue, "Apparently, I pick it up fast, but it fades out slowly. Today... I'm scrolling Instagram, I watch a reel from a comedian couple (Darcy and Jeremy. IYKYK) about how Darcy (ADHD) picks up accents everywhere they go. It's called ADHD Mirroring??? And it's another way of masking."
(The OP is referring to Darcy Michaels and his husband Jeremy Baer, who are both touring comedians based in Canada.)
Hundreds of people on the Reddit thread alone seem to relate. One comments, "Omfg I've done this my whole life; I'll even pick up on the pauses/spaces when I'm talking to someone who is ESL—but English is my first language lol."
Sometimes, it can be a real issue for those around the chameleon. "I accidentally mimicked a waitress's weird laugh one time. As soon as she was out of earshot, my family started to reprimand me, but I was already like 'oh my god I don’t know why I did that, I feel so bad.'"
Many commenters on TikTok were shocked to find out this can be a sign of ADHD. One jokes, "Omg, yes, at a store the cashier was talking to me and she was French. She's like 'Oh are you French too? No, I'm not lol. I'm very east coast Canada."
And some people just embrace it and make it work for them. "I mirror their words or phrase! I’m 30. I realized I start calling everyone sweetie cause my manager does & I work at coffee shop."
This article originally appeared in May.