At age 7, he was in a school that valued inclusivity, because children who had special needs were able to attend regular classes and engage with other students, instead of being kept in a special education class for the entire day. He also had a one-on-one Para-professional teacher who specialized in special education and speech. During this time he was learning communication skills and was able to mimic the sounds of words and letters. Unfortunately, when he was transferred into the new school, he was kept in a special needs classroom the entire time, and there was no inclusivity for the children that were in this special education class.
During the two years that he was at this school, not only did he forget the sounds of the words and letters that he already knew, but, without working with a Para one-on-one and without the reinforcement of speech, he lost the complete ability to pronounce words and letters. Then he develop sounds that were loud, noisy and repetitive. Most of the time he sounded like he was yelling, but this was the way he had learned to communicate. In addition to developing these loud verbal cues, he also develop unusual behaviors. For example, he had an increase number in tantrums, would show aggression, and would not listen to directions, or follow directions. We suspected that the change in school had something to do with these speech and behavioral changes, but at the time we didn't know why. So after two years, we moved again, and were able to get him into a school that valued and practiced inclusivity. He began 5th grade at this new school, and he began to learn different ways of communicating non-verbally including the use of PECS and sign language, but most importantly he was also evaluated for the use of an assistive technology device.
At the time, it was difficult to understand why he began to manifest these new behaviors, but after reading about emotional contagion, I can now understand and describe how this may work. Some individuals (including my brother) have a greater ability to mimic the gestures, behaviors, body postures, mannerisms, and actions of other people (Hatfield, E., & Cacioppo, J., et al. 1993). Individuals who have a greater ability to mimic the action of others will do so automatically, and will soon find them selves replicating the same behaviors or actions, a phenomena called emotional contagion (McIntosh, 2006). As my brother was constantly (more than 5 hours a day, 5 days a week) exposed to an environment where he observed and learned from the abilities of others that were similar to his own, he began to mimic them. On a regular basis, my brother and other children were only exposed to each others abilities, which were in many ways limited due to their special needs. And since most of the other children in the classroom were also non-verbal and used non verbal vocalization in order to communicate, he then began to learn and mimic these communication techniques.
In addition to non verbal cues, the children would also engage in other actions and behaviors as a way of interacting with others, but these behaviors were sometimes challenging and portrayed aggression. Disruptive behaviors including tantrums, grabbing on to others, throwing items, self injury and sometimes injury to others can be very common behaviors observed in a special needs classroom. If children with deficits in their communication are exposed to these behaviors all of the time then they are more likely to learn and mimic these behaviors, because they are mimicking behaviors from people that they spend the most time with (McIntosh, 2006).
McIntoch, D., Reichmann-Decker, A., & Winkielman, P. (2006). Developmental Science. When the Social Mirror Breaks: Deficits in Automatic, but Not, 9(3), 295-302. Retrieved August 01, 2016, from http://psy2.ucsd.edu/~pwinkiel/McIntosh-Reichmann-Decker-Winkielman-Wilbarger_Mimicry-ASD-DS-2006.pdf
Hatfield, E., & Cacioppo, J., et al. (1993). America Psychological Society. Emotional Contagion, 2(3), 96-99. Retrieved August 01, 2016, from http://psychology.uchicago.edu/people/faculty/cacioppo/jtcreprints/hcr93.pdf
