We spent the day at Yale New Haven doing an Autism study. Morgan and I did tasks in the room, Josh answered questions, and the other three hung out relatively quietly in a very small room (with a grad student playing with them). It was pretty interesting what Morgan could do and not do, especially since he was SO not into it after about 5 seconds, so he was not a willing participant and when he could do things it made it more impressive. Still, I think Jesse could have gotten more of the tasks right, except perhaps some of the more complex block structures, which actually Morgan did most of.
We had an hour off for lunch in a crowded cafeteria. Seeing as it had been about 75 degrees where we had been, we all went outside with short sleeves on to cool down for a bit before we went to get food. Getting food was the hard part of the day for me. Josh and Morgan and Timothy waited in line (nicely) for nuggets and fries while I was in charge of not letting Jocelyn and Jesse sneeze on the salad bar. Quite a challenge! By the end I was pretty much crawling out of my skin. But then we all managed to sit down and eat without incident. Morgan not only waiting in line patiently and quietly (and still!) but sat nicely while eating as well.
After lunch they took pictures of all of us - head from all angles, ears, hands, feet. Then weights and height and head circumference. Then it was time to get the numbing cream on their arms because we had to each give some blood. Jocelyn was afraid of the cream - she thought it was going to make her whole body numb. Forever. So she told Jesse he could go first. He jumped up and stuck out his arms and got the cream while I explained to Jocelyn that it only worked on her arms and only for a little while. After Jesse seemed unharmed, she agreed to go next. Morgan obliged as well (as did Timothy of course).
Then we had to walk to a completely different building for the blood draw. The grad student who walked us over asked who was going to go first and Jesse raised his hand immediately. I asked if he was sure, that I would go first if he wanted, but he said yes he was sure he wanted to go first.
So Jesse goes first. I sit down and he sits in my lap and holds out his arm. The grad student is suggesting he look away but he makes a fist and stares straight at the needle going in, doesn't flinch cry or whine, and when it's in and he can see the blood running, he finally looks up and says "but I didn't even feel anything!" I was so proud of him!
Of course, Jocelyn was another story. A big talker about how good she was going to be, but scrunched her arms up tight the second it was her turn and I had to pry them open (she's strong!). Then she SCREAMED like she was having a toe pulled off as the needle went in, then calmed down, the screamed some more "I CAN FEEL IT I CAN FEEL IT!" Later she admitted she could not actually feel it. Morgan's was the saddest because he cried vs. screamed, and almost made me cry myself I was so sad for him (where as I could tell Jocelyn was just being dramatic, so I was biting my lip to keep from giggling).
Jocelyn's dramatic show made Jesse's all the more impressive. The blood drawer said she wished all her 4 year olds were like that. Once we were done he said "where's my $40?" which is what we each got for the blood. He was then disappointed to learn it was only 2 bills, I think he was expecting a wad of ones.
So that was our day. Not as bad as I thought it would be, but glad it's over. They will call on Friday and give us information on Morgan's tests, and we'll get a write up. The genetic stuff we'll never get as it goes on and on. They've already been doing this study for over a year at least. Our data will get put in a national database so other researchers can access it.
Let's see, in other news this week, Timothy's girlfriend broke up with him (and he's not the least bit upset about it) and Jocelyn's boyfriend broke up with her (and she's devastated). Timothy's basketball team got creamed 27 to 5.
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