Ellie Hates Tennessee (Or, Principles of Learning)

All of my work with Ellie and Isabelle is really premised on two principles:
1. Conditioning (aka "pairing" aka "learning"); and
2. Generalization.

Conditioning isn't hard, once the human has learned how to teach, and the bird has learned how to learn. All we're doing is creating an experience and labeling it. For instance:
1. I hold up broccoli and ask Ellie to touch it.
2. I label the object "broccoli".
3. She repeatedly touches and I repeatedly label broccoli.
4. Ellie learns the name of the presented object, broccoli.

Generalization isn't hard either. I bring out different broccoli heads here and there. They aren't the same "broccoli" that she learned, but they are similar enough that she can recognize them as "broccoli". Ellie has learned broccoli.

So pairing is really just vocabulary development through hearing the word and observing (or experiencing) the corresponding representation, be it object, feeling or desire. ("This is a duck." / "Ellie feels happy." / "Ellie wants a book.") And generalizing is understanding that the vocabulary word extends to similar objects/feelings/desires. ("Ellie feels happy when she has a treat." "Ellie feels happy when she has warm tea." "Ellie feels happy when Grandma visits.")

 *****

I travel occasionally, and my girls are lucky enough to have some of the most wonderful babysitters, who house-sit and play with them for hours every day. Ellie is very curious about her world... I always wished I could somehow show Ellie what other places in the world look like, but I never thought the opportunity would arise for her to experience anything other than our fun, backyard life in sunny Florida.

How do you explain to anyone - including a bird - that the world is full of places that are beautiful, and that the outside looks different than their home?

And then there was a hurricane! And we drove to Tennessee! It was the perfect opportunity to teach Ellie about mountains and states... and living in a hotel, actually.

I showed both girls pictures of Tennessee mountains on my phone, and they got treats for "touching" the mountain pictures. I said, "Mountains are in Tennessee" and showed them pictures of Tennessee too. Then I distinguished "mountains" and "Tennessee" from our Florida landscape, and the word "Florida". I also distinguished "home" from "hotel room" through the use of pictures - and treat rewards for touching. I wrote out sentences:
Ellie is in a hotel.
Ellie is in Tennessee.
Ellie sees mountains.
There are mountains in Tennessee
Ellie lives in Florida.
Ellie lives in a house.
There are no mountains in Florida.

Each of these sentences was likewise paired with visual images, and heavy emphasis on repeating our vocabulary words to underscore the vocabulary development.

We practiced this pairing over and over and over again and had a great time with yummy treats!

"Home" vs. "Hotel"

Home

Hotel

Finally, I took Ellie on a drive through the mountains to Pigeon Forge, where we "mined" for gemstones. She loved foraging in the sand! The entire way there and back, she sat on my shoulder looking outside - seeing mountains for the first time in her life. I kept saying, "Ellie is in Tennessee. Ellie sees mountains!" It was so precious to me--sharing the world with my curious explorer. I'll never forget it <3

"Mining"

For all of that, life in the hotel was somewhat stressful. My usually-uncaged girls were confined to small travel carriers whenever I left the room. (They went in under 'force-free' conditions - I hid treats in them, and they wandered in, but still...) Yet, usually for six or seven hours every day we played together, so it really wasn't tragic. But they didn't have access to their garden or to outside playtime. No dancing, no shouting and excitement...

(We did have a fun shower.)

After a few days of vocabulary development, I had a chat with them both.
Me: Ellie, are you in Tennessee?
Ellie: Yes.
Me: Do you like Tennessee?
Ellie: No. (LOL)
Me: Are you home?
Ellie: No.
Me: Are you in a hotel?
Ellie: Yes.
Me: Do you like the hotel?
Ellie: No.
Me: Did you see mountains?
Ellie: Yes.
Me: Did you like mountains?
Ellie: No.

On top of the cooping up, the drive there and back was fourteen and sixteen hours without a break. I can understand why she didn't love it <3

My conversation with Isabelle was so different! (My girls couldn't be more opposite!)
Me: Isabelle, are you in Tennessee?
Isabelle: Yes.
Me: Do you like Tennessee?
Isabelle: Yes.
Me: Are you home?
Isabelle: No.
Me: Are you in a hotel?
Isabelle: Yes.
Me: Do you like the hotel?
Isabelle: Yes.
Me: Did you see mountains?
Isabelle: Yes.
Me: Did you like mountains?
Isabelle: Yes.

She is so much more laid back! "As long as we're together, Mom, I'm happy!" ;)

Now Ellie and Isabelle both have a baseline experience for understanding "places". There's a place called Florida, a place called home, a place called Tennessee, a place with mountains, and a place with shrubs and beaches. They are different places, and she can get from one to the other through a long car ride :)

I'm so thankful my girls got to have this experience. It opens so much learning for them - places and landscapes, states, and more! I can show them pictures of my travels. They'll understand when I say, "I'm staying in a hotel." They'll have some concept that the world is filled with different topography.

That said, I'm pretty sure if I invite Ellie to come along with me, she'll say, "No." ;)

Birdie Feelings :)

I have procrastinated teaching my birds feelings for solidly six months. It felt presumptuous - how can I tell them how they feel? I don't know what birdie feelings feel like. What if I mislabel their feelings, and confuse them? Finally - and this seemed worst - what if I create through language a narrative of their experience, and alter their experience, not for the better? Language is a powerful tool - we become the things we tell ourselves we are. Inner dialog is an extremely powerful tool; language shapes the context and interpretation of our experiences. It shapes us and creates and recreates us.

For instance, what if I say, "Ellie feels mad" when she's got slitty eyes and is shouting because she's been left behind in the bathroom? But she's not really mad? And now I've labeled something that isn't true - but as she learns what 'mad' means (in other contexts), it would become true, through verbal association?

I could have a cockatoo who isn't mad, but because I label the behavior in that and other situations, she adapts anger into that context.

So feeling labels seemed, to me, a scary thing--not just in complexity of teaching them, but in consequence, as well. I'm a very productive procrastinator, so we've learned a lot of other things instead!

Yet feelings are part of their lives. Every single day, Isabelle feels frightened at some point - she is a sensitive bird, and quick or sudden movements surprise and frighten her. Passing a formerly benign object can suddenly be a source of fear. Every night Ellie resists bedtime, and I have done everything I could think of to ease her nighttime discomfort - including a few times sleeping in their room, always responding to her nighttime calls to check on her, giving her treats and cuddles before bed. I even ask her if she wants to sleep with the light on or off. When scared from fireworks - she wants the lights on; otherwise she requests the lights to be turned off. There is some light in their room, always at night, from the outside lighting.

Emotions are part of their lives, and it seemed if they have the capacity for communication, NOT giving them the tools to label and express their emotions may be the greater cruelty.

So. Feelings.

I have lightly tried to create associations between my observations of their states and their possible feelings - capturing the 'feeling' state through context, not directly teaching them. It has been too inconsistent to really get anywhere. The other night I took a deep breath and decided to tackle it.

I began with vocabulary. Scientists have labeled five basic emotions: surprise, happy, sad, anger, afraid. (My labels: excited, happy, sad, mad, afraid.) So the birds learned the words - and they were both so excited to be working on a new and challenging project :)

My plan was to tell them my feeling states, to avoid the 'presumption' issue. I'd tell them how I felt under certain circumstance in their working and known vocabulary. Then I'd see if they could extrapolate from my feeling states and apply it to themselves.
Mom feels happy when Ellie and Mom outside.
Mom feels happy when Ellie and Mom eat pancakes.
Mom feels happy when Ellie and Mom learn.
Mom feels happy when Ellie and Mom read book.
Mom feels sad when Mom works too much.
Mom feels sad when Mom is gone.
Mom feels excited when Grandma visit.
etc.

After this exercise they could correctly identify my 'feeling' states. Their answers to their own feeling states under those conditions were getting there - but they were still confused. So, labels.

I decided I should try to label their feelings to give us all a starting point. Maybe I would be wrong in my interpretations - but it really did feel unfair to not teach them to express their feelings. We needed to start somewhere--I figured I'd do clear and obvious ones. I would tell them a vocabulary word that seemed correlated with a feeling state, and label it.

• When Ellie eats treat, Ellie is happy.
• When Ellie in shower, Ellie is happy.
• When Ellie outside, Ellie is happy.

The negative emotions were more complicated.

• When Mom gone, Ellie is sad. (Is Ellie sad? She is always withdrawn for a few days when I return from vacation. But who knows.)
• When Mom works too much, Ellie is sad. (Not just normal workdays - but super long ones, when she has babysitters play with her instead--and then is usually somewhat withdrawn again.) 

I still felt the language labels were imprecise, so thought I'd give her an example, and brought out my suitcase. "Mom gone," I said. "Ellie feels sad." And I held up the "sad" label.

I thought the pairing would be instructive--and after that, she clearly labeled happy, excited, and sad. That was enough for one lesson, and she got a jackpot of treats to cheer her back up :)

With Isabelle - who would be terrified of my suitcase - we worked on happy, excited, sad - all generally - and then I used afraid in context too - showing her from across the room an object that is mildly scary (a paper tube). We labeled the feelings - and she actually learned faster and with better accuracy than Ellie. We aren't done learning the labels - we need to clarify and sharpen them in context and in lessons, but some interesting things have come out of our feeling conversations.

For one, my birds don't like each other - which I already knew. But almost every day we sit together - one on my shoulder, the other on my lap, and I figured hanging out outweighed the dislike factor. But when I asked each of them, "How do you feel?" they both picked "sad". That was a surprise - so I separated them as we spend time together - and now they both tell me they are "happy" when we sit together.

Their labels are also very consistent. Perhaps the biggest surprise was a 'conversation' I had with Ellie before bed. I put her on the playstand in her room and asked, "How do you feel?" while holding up the "happy" and "sad" cards. Her feet were tense, her feathers flat, her eyes scanning sharply from place to place throughout the room, and she was stressed - as she often is at bedtime. She literally doesn't like bedtime, and I just can't figure out how to fix it, even after five years of trying.

She picked "sad".

Me: Do you feel sad, or afraid? (Holding up both cards)
Ellie: Afraid
Me: Do you feel afraid, or mad?
Ellie: Afraid.
Me: Do you feel afraid of Isabelle? (I sometimes wondered.)
Ellie: No.
Me: Do you feel afraid of the lightning? (I could see it in the distance - and so could she, through the window.)
Ellie: Yes.
Me, just to confirm: Do you feel afraid of Isabelle?
Ellie: No.
Me: Do you feel afraid of the lightning?
Ellie: Yes.

So I got a blanket and put it over the window, and then made a towel fort around a cage. She doesn't really go in there much, but I hid some treats. She looked at the curtain, and I labeled it, "Curtain" for her, and had her touch it. Then she hopped into the cage to look for treats (less stressed now), and ambled out to investigate the curtain again.
Me: Are you happy?
Ellie: Yes
Me: Are you afraid?
Ellie: Yes
Me: Which are you more? (holding up both)
Ellie: Happy.

And from my visual inspection, she seemed infinitely less stressed - her feet were no longer tense, her eyes were no longer scanning, and her feathers weren't flattened. She moseyed off to look for more treats, seeming content with the arrival of the curtain and the towel fort.

So - labels, I think, are improving their quality of life. But it's still strange and feels presumptuous (and a little scary) to teach feelings. It's not 100% there - and also seems like a ouija board, but... we're getting there! And if nothing comes of it - we're connecting, interacting, and spending time together, and there's no harm in that! :)

Here's a video of our feeling training session. After the tube - she really labeled her feelings so much better. (I feel so terrible for showing it to her, still! GAH!)

Bigger Bird Choices - Making Progress in Consent

Consent is the idea that we have control over the things that happen to us. I consent to go out with Joe on a date; I consent to hugging people; I consent to work; I consent to visit with my friends and family. I consent to the way people treat me - or I have the option of leaving them out of my life.

In the animal world, it can be a real struggle to get an animal's approval and consent - really, we can only tell by body language, and sometimes that is tough to decipher. I was at a plaza a few weeks ago, and a man had his large puppy on a choke-collar. Certainly the dog was not 'consenting' to be choked every time he moved away from the man. Many birds are 'forced' into their cages when it's time to be put away. They don't 'consent' to go in their cages. Often, birds also don't consent to be touched or held by strangers - they're just small and it's easy to force them to do stuff.

Humans in prison don't have as many opportunities for consent - they are forced into cells as well - but usually because their rights haven't been taken away from them. Pets are born into a world with little 'consent' (even as much as we love them). They are born into a world where we force them into travel carriers or into the bath, where we pick them up and carry them into their little pens or cages. (Or they know they have no choice, so they go in 'voluntarily', wishing not to be touched and forced.)

The 'force free' movement is largely based on training animals (through Applied Behavioral Analysis/clicker training) to behave in certain ways so that they are set up to 'consent' to activities and interactions. I largely try to practice this - Isabelle goes into her cage because she 'consents' to do so - there are lots of treats and fresh toys in there, and she's curious and excited to see what she'll find. Ellie 'consents' to step onto her play stand through force free principles, because I've trained her to with a treat. Some people have trained their pets to comfortably and voluntarily go into carriers - and some have even trained them to go through vet visits (and get shots) on a voluntary, force-free basis! I will be the first to say I am not perfect, but I try very hard to adhere to this standard.

So - force-free trained pets are much, much happier pets!

Force-free, however, hasn't, I think, had the opportunity yet to address matters of free will. Humans still make the major choices for our pets, and then we train them to be comfortable with those choices--to voluntarily engage in them. I have always clipped my birds' wings because I have friends who have lost their birds through accidents - collisions with windows and fans, flying out of an accidentally-opened door. My birds appear to experience no distress during a clipping - and afterwards they get treats and then hop along on their way to the next fun activity.

I also choose to allow my birds--with their wings clipped and on non-breezy days--to sit with me in the garden, playing in the hose, or just watching butterflies. "Outside" is our vocabulary word for this - and it's their favorite activity, period. (I am constantly scanning the sky for predators, and we go inside if there is any threat. I understand that this is a controversial choice, but it is what it is.)

And I make this choice - they are allowed outside--there is some risk involved--and I clip their wings.

This week It Was Time again. Ellie's wings were getting longer, and I found the proud stinker everywhere - on top of doors, and across the room. It always makes me sad to clip their wings. I wish they could safely fly, but they love being outside with me, and--for me, at this point--being able to fly outside isn't an option. But I thought, "What if I could let her choose to either learn to fly or to have clipped wings and go outside?"

I never think these things are going to work - she's a bird, how could she understand the gravity of choosing clipped wings and going outside, or learning to fly, and being inside? But she's surprised me often enough that now I record our interactions, just in case!

One more word about consent - it is possible to consent, not knowing what one is consenting to. Isabelle can choose to go into her cage because it is fun, but is she really consenting to be in her cage for the following eight hours? So consent and informed consent are two vastly different things. The force-free/ABA model I think largely addresses 'consent' - the animal goes in the carrier, but is the animal really consenting to go to the vet? (Can the animal be given this health choice? Do they have the capacity to understand it?)

For the wing-clipping vs. flight issue with Ellie, I felt that a reminder of vocabulary terms combined with her past experience would make her consent more of the informed nature. As a baby, she learned to fly - and she flew for many months (maybe even a year). She also experiences clippings - she (one would assume, since she's a bright bird) understands that after a clip, she is no longer able to fly as far as she had before the clip.

So - I had her recall-fly to me a few times - and I told her "fly," so that she would understand the vocabulary word fly was linked to that behavior and ability. Then I brought out scissors and pretended to clip her wings. I said, "Clip wings!" several times so that she could have the opportunity to link the action with the knowledge of the consequence - clipped wings.

Then I created flash card sentences for her to read - "If Ellie fly, Ellie no go outside" and "If Ellie fly outside, Ellie could get hurt." I had her read them silently (I wasn't trying hard not to cue her - it wasn't a reading test - just trying to help her understand.) Then I had her choose the one I was reading.

Then I created flash cards that said, "Clipped wings = outside" and "Fly = inside" and paired the concept as well.

Then I asked her these questions and it was so interesting!!! :)

Here's the longer training video!

Conversations with Ellie: Testing and Tattling

Last weekend's tests weren't as successful as I'd hoped, although we had a limited (but good) data set. I've tried working with Ellie a few more times on the Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) cards, nothing. Just to be clear: testing is on her terms, and her indication of no is like my asking if she wants some spinach, and finding myself snubbed.

We had a conversation last night about her tests. I had been gone since the day before, and the neighbor, Parker, took care of them and played with them. She was eager to work together last night, since we hadn't had lessons in a few days. That said, the CVC test is very simple, and Ellie doesn't like simple things. If I offer to work with her on a tough book (with fewer treats) or an easy one (with consequently more treats), she will pick the tougher book.

So I taught her the phrase "CVC", paired it with her test cards, and then held up the "Talk?" flashcard. She picked "Yes". The following conversation ensued, and I figured I'd start with one of her favorite topic: the neighbor boy. She worships him! ;)
Me: Did Parker come over today?
Ellie: Yes
Me: Did Parker give you food and water?
Ellie: Yes

To make sure she wasn't just saying yes for forever, I asked a few questions I knew were "No":
Me: Did Parker take you outside?
Ellie: No
Me: Did Parker make pancakes?
Ellie: No

So, she was paying attention, and also tattling on her babysitter! >_<
Me: Did Parker play with you?
Ellie: Yes
Me: Do you like Parker?
Ellie: Yes

The next question is always a gamble. When I've been gone a long time, or overnight, she usually tells me she doesn't like me. But she usually also agrees that, even if she doesn't like me, I like her.
Me: Do you like Mom?
Ellie: No
Me: Does Mom like you?
Ellie: No

I laughed, and said: "YES I DO! Mom likes Ellie!!!" Pick the "Yes" card!!
Ellie: Yes
Me: Do you like Mom?
Ellie: No

She's such a stormy and dramatic little bugger!

Now that we were warmed up, I brought up the test subject, and tried to mix it up with other things she does like--namely, classical music right now.
Me: Do you like CVC?
Ellie: No
Me: Do you like Bach?
Ellie: Yes (Bach is her first Baroque love - the Brandenburg Concerto)
Me: Do you like Pachelbel?
Ellie: No
Me: Do you like Brandenburg Concerto?
Ellie: Yes
Me: Do you like Canon in D?
Ellie: No
Me: Do you like CVC? (Trying to test her; she's not to be fooled.)
Ellie: No

So, I suppose the research CVC test is out for now. I met with the collaborating researcher last night for dinner, and she wasn't too dismayed. She said, "The fact that Ellie is more strongly reinforced by challenge--tough books--than treats is incredible. Nobody's ever communicated with a bird on this level!" So... we'll keep working at it!

Anyway, at the end of our learning session, I asked her, "Do you like Mom?" She responded, "Yes." :)

Birdie Experiment Weekend!

This weekend was The Testing Weekend. On Friday my Mom (the "Research Assistant") arrived. She got to the house after 8:00pm and I was all like "OMG DO YOU WANT TO TEST THE BIRDS AND GET IT OVER WITH? MAYBE THEY WILL SCORE 85% ON THEIR TESTS AND WE WILL BE ALL DONE! WE COULD SPEND THE WEEKEND AT THE BEACH!"

For serious, I thought it would be super simple.

She was game, so we got them ready, with her behind a shield. The test is a bit of a complicated setup, even without the shield, with many steps for each word set. I showered with both birds in the bathroom to kind of ground and center us - showering is soothing to them, it's a way to settle down and refocus. Then I grabbed Isabelle. When Isabelle studies first, Ellie's accuracy is higher because she's jealous. ;)

We started testing Isabelle... and she was all like OMG BUT WHAT'S BEHIND THE SHIELD??? I begged and bribed her to do the cards - no such luck whatsoever. She picked one wrong card after another, all the while trying to figure out where Grandma went, and how to get there.

So... we tried Ellie. Nothing on CVC words.. she proceeded to toss the treats across the room, one at a time, threw a few cards down onto the sofa, and also wanted to know where Grandma went and how she could get there to pester her.

On Saturday I was still feeling pretty good. My Mom was planning to stay through the end of today (Monday), so, three more days of testing. We've got this! Ellie was 100% no-go, the whole day. It didn't matter what treat I gave her--warm tea, tofu--she was not planning to play whatsoever. Music was interesting for about four composers - hardly enough for a reading study. Then she got bored. Saturday night, though, Isabelle began the tougher test (reading comprehension!). Each set takes a long time, and she got 100% on two sets... so it was a start!

We began again on Sunday morning, and by this time, we decided to remove the shield. My mom would sit, motionless and with sunglasses, within my range of vision. She would not cue me by remaining motionless, and she would tell me what words to say since under those conditions, since I couldn't see the cards. She also decided to adjust the testing procedures to have fewer steps - so it would be faster and less rigmarole. Go Mom with the great ideas!

Still, no go, though. Ellie has been engaging in a 'stereotypical' behavior, meaning, she is obsessively 'anting' - tucking things into her wings. It's a bird-specific behavior, and parrots have been used as models for OCD because of their inclinations toward stereotypical behavior. When there isn't something more interesting to her, she ants. And reading boring CVC words is definitely not interesting to her.

I felt so sad - at this point, Isabelle would be the one in the study, because we were at least making some progress with her. If Ellie didn't make it into the study? That would be heartbreaking! But for my little genius Goffin's Cockatoo, none of this would have happened!

By yesterday afternoon my Mom and I were panicking, mildly. Once the birds master a concept, it is difficult to persuade them to continue practicing it. For instance, six weeks ago, Isabelle scored 85% on 26 CVC cards in one reading -- and Ellie got the same score with 40 words. It wasn't under formal testing conditions... But CVC cards were still a fun game. But not anymore.

Last night I resigned myself to the fact that... learning has always been for my little birds. I understand on special levels the reasons other researchers and trainers engage in seemingly unkind practices--making them very hungry (and sometimes starving them) or scolding/punishing them--to get scientific results. The creatures in the lab perhaps must accommodate science. I refuse to do that - science must accommodate my little 'too girls. And if there's a conflict, science must lose.

Reading is for Ellie and Isabelle. And fudging methods, for instance, if we were to work through the tests without all the blind-sciency rigmarole, since we practice these exercises all all the time... isn't something that will let me sleep at night. The research must adhere to scientific standards.

COMPLETELY DISHEARTENED AND FILLED WITH DESPAIR I woke little Ellie up this morning at 6:30 am. Sometimes we awaken early to read and learn together. Bleary eyed and in my pajamas, I sat with her and snuggled, and then she crawled onto her basket--wanting to learn. My mom moseyed in from the bedroom too, in her nightgown. We didn't even turn on the camera. My mom put on the sunglasses, took her position, and I started going through the CVC cards with Ellie.

Lo and behold.... she performed. Card after card she chose mostly accurately with modest results on a fair number! They are not stellar and excellent (I have such high expectations! 100% on the test, please!) but they are passing--and I think they may be the start to publishable research! We still have some work to do, and the researcher who is collaborating with me wants to meet up to look at our data set together. But they are consistent with other published studies with animals... just exactly like the other ones, actually. We need to do another set of at least ten more BUT we got there! And it's with Ellie!

Still groggy, I awakened Isabelle, and held her for a moment. She reached over for her basket to learn together (yay!) and when she saw my Mom, crawled right off and headed for Mom's lap instead. My Mom disappeared after a bit of snuggling, and Isabelle cycled through the (tougher) reading comprehension test - 10 words. No video, but my Mom was behind a shield as well. Her results were lower than Ellie's - not publishable yet - but statistically significant enough to keep going. I think if we do another two sets of ten she'll be in good shape!

So. The weekend was not a loss, my heart is definitely not as broken as it was yesterday, and all in all I'm feeling cautiously optimistic! That said, science is definitely hard work!

...Research to be continued on Labor Day Weekend when our beloved Research Assistant returns. And for the next week, I think we'll be doing lots of relaxing and curling up with fun little children's books! <3

Isabelle Finished Learning the Lowercase Alphabet!

One of our new neighbors came over for a visit yesterday so I could give her some of my moringa tree clippings. I never know how my little beasts will perform in public, but while the neighbor was visiting, Ellie showed off and did a GREAT job on her Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) words! I was so proud of her!

After the neighbor left, Ellie and I started working on composers - this time I found some obscure guy (Finzi) from the Impressionist era. She didn't like him, and thereafter picked every wrong answer, then crawled off of her basket, flipped onto her back next to me, and bit my butt. 

Sorry, Impressionist Composers, Ellie is Unimpressed.

Today I gave her the option of learning some guitar composers or Baroque - she picked Baroque, and then picked Bach over Vivaldi. She loves Bach :)

We listened to Inventions and looked at pictures of harpsichords and violins. She kept picking "Violin" I think hoping I'd turn on some Concertos instead. "Turn off the freaking harpsichord, Mom." Of course, I obliged her. We watched another live Concerto played by a symphony on Youtube and then she meandered off to find a drink :)

*****

Isabelle was the superstar of the morning. She reviewed all of her lowercase letters and learned the last six (u, v, w, x, y, z)... and then READ HER FIRST BOOK! I was SO proud of her!!! I kissed her tummy and gave her lots of treats and scritches! <3 I also shuffled her CVC cards so that I couldn't see them and practiced for our blind tests - and she read through them like the little champ she is! 

Oh, Isabelle!!! <3

I so love my little 'too girls!!! 

Ellie Meets Bach

Ellie has largely been in a funk since my Oregon trip. I don't know whether it's:

• That she really likes the neighbor boy who babysits her. He visits while I'm busy and out of town for 4 hours/day and plays with them, and she cries for him when she's outside because she wants him to come over to play. (She hit her hormones this year, so is officially a Teenager.)
• That the fireworks were super scary and she was all Traumatized Creature. 
• That she's still mad at me for traveling so much--although the neighbor babysits, so there is that upside.
• That she's bored because she's kind of mastered reading, and doesn't think stories or CVC flashcards are interesting.
• Some combination of the above

So... Ellie keeps 'anting' - biting chunks out of the cards and tucking them into her feathers and ignoring my attempts to teach her, while simultaneously acting out as Bored Ellie, nipping me, annoying her sisters, acting angry and eating the house.

I've been trying and trying to find ways to reach her--she's quite upset. I tried writing more interesting stories about her fish and her elephant... she ate the cards. I wrote out Dr. Seuss stories on flash cards. She did it half-heartedly a few times, but they don't hold her interest. (She did actually score 100% accuracy, though, go her reading sentences!)

Last week I decided to teach her "Talk". We can talk about her feelings using yes/no cards. To explore her feelings about the possible crush (and also secretly test her knowledge and help her learn time) I asked her things last week. Parker (the neighbor) had come over on Wednesday night and Thursday morning to feed/water them because I was too busy with work. So I asked her questions about it.

• Do you like Parker? (yes)
• Did Parker come over yesterday? (yes)
• Did Parker come over today? (yes)
• Did Parker play with you? (no - probably accurate, he was just feeding/watering them, although he'll usually hold Ellie for a while)
• Did Parker pick you up? (yes)
• Do you want Parker to come over tomorrow? (yes - good - he's babysitting them all weekend and through Tuesday since I'm in Pennsylvania)

I figure that maybe, if the problem is her emotions and her crush right now, we can dialog through her feelings. Perhaps if she feels *heard* and *understood* she will feel better. Maybe I can empathize with her and, when he can't visit, ask her what kinds of things would help her feel better, like a nice cup of hot tea. So there - she learned the word "TALK" as an activity resource, and it will be something available to her.

Thursday night I also bit the bullet and decided to start teaching her music appreciation. She loves music, and already knows a few categories - dance, piano, guitar, and Baroque. She really likes Baroque a lot, and often chooses it for us to all listen to. Clearly vocabulary and stories aren't working right now, but I need to find some way to stimulate her brain--for her sake and that of the household!

I had another one of our awkward conversations: "Ellie, Baroque is a style of music. Composers make music. Baroque music is made by composers, too. These are some of the composers."

I taught her vocabulary next.

She nailed them! Then we focused on Bach - we looked at pictures of Bach on my phone, and I explained that he made music. We watched an orchestra play the Brandenburg Concerto #3 - and I wrote it on a card. During the music, I gave her treats for touching the card... and did the same for Air on a String of G.

Then I tested her with the music, and she correctly identified the titles :)  And I asked her who wrote them, holding up Bach and Vivaldi - and she picked Bach!

Their experiments are less than two weeks away! The experiments are supposed to be on simple Consonant-Vowel-Consonant (CVC) words, such as MEL, CALL, BALL, etc. I'm fairly certain she's going to boycott her experiments... but I might just be able to get her to read composers and the names of musical compositions. Wouldn't that be funny?

"I'm sorry my bird won't read the boring easy words, she prefers Stravinsky."

Oy.

Isabelle: Underestimated Scholar of the Year!

To think I didn't believe Isabelle would ever learn to read! She is proof that with a little bribery and a lot of patience, almost every large parrot can learn :)

Last week I decided we needed to wrap up the rest of her uppercase alphabet, since we're going to be testing soon. She learned V, X, Z and Q pretty quickly - and then I added th, ch, sh, wh, qu, etc. just to make sure she was good to go on basic phonics.

Sweet Isabelle is such a second born. She learns quickly, but probably not as thoroughly as Ellie. With this cutie, I'm in catch-up mode. I only have so many creative brain cells at my disposal, and they seem employed keeping up with Ellie and running a business.  I didn't pair every single letter with a vocabulary word as she learned, she hasn't seen many Youtube videos about elephants or ducks, as I did with Ellie. But, we manage!

And oh does she manage! The Underestimated Scholar Of The Year Award Goes To.... Isabelle!

Having taught her the uppercase alphabet, I grabbed a few of Ellie's library books so she could start reading actual pages. And then remembered.... books include lowercase letters. Which she doesn't know. *sigh*

My poor second-born parrot.

SO. Now we are rushing through her lowercase letters. Not only does she keep up with learning four new letters each day, she excels! She's also reading sentences!

For both Isabelle and Ellie, I've realized that having them pre-read the sentences before having to make a selection improves their accuracy. Also, I'm writing out Dr. Seuss stories onto flash cards. It's a great way to have fun sentences and topics, without the dilemma of OMG ALL THE WORDS ON THE PAGE! Ellie had 100% accuracy last night on one of her stories (8 sentences), and Isabelle did really well in this video too!

Once they've mastered these sentences, I'm going to try to generalize it to the actual book page - they'll probably have memorized the story by then, and I'll help them to be able to read the sentences in the book :)

Here's Isabelle for a whole training. She reviewed a, b, d, and e from the day before, learned f, g, h, and l, then read lowercase words like a boss! And THEN she read a story with sentences!

Go Isabelle!!!

Oh Mom! Pretend Fish Can't Like Things!

On Sunday I  spent the afternoon and evening with a childhood friend, Shari. I lamented mildly that I'm having a hard time figuring out what to do next with Ellie. She's reading sentences and is bored - there's no more challenge. I also wrote stories about her toys, but they are all true statements - and it would be weird to write, "Zed swims in the water outside" when he is clearly sitting next to us on the sofa, not swimming.

I thought the concepts of true/pretend would be too hard to explain. The thought of it made me think I needed some wine.

Monday I bit the bullet anyway and decided to write statements that were: TRUE / NOT TRUE / PRETEND.

• True would be: Ellie likes pancakes.
• Not true would be: Ellie likes Isabelle
• Pretend would be: Pretend Ellie is going for a ride in the car.

Today I wrote simple stories for Ellie and put them on flashcards:

• Zed is a pretend fish.
• Real fish live outside.
• Real fish swim in water.
• Zed likes green.
• Zed likes Ellie.
• Ellie likes Barney.
• Zed doesn't like grass.

Then a story for Barney, her elephant.

• Barney is a pretend elephant.
• Real elephants live outside.
• Real elephants are HUGE!
• Real elephants eat grass.
• Barney is a toy.
• Barney likes Ellie.
• Ellie likes Barney.

Then I asked her reading comprehension questions. Here is the video. When I got to, "Ellie likes Barney." She answered "True." But "Barney likes Ellie" - she answered "Not True."

The same happened with Zed. "Ellie likes Zed" was true. "Zed likes Ellie" she answered "Not True."

She got all of the other reading comprehension questions correct - Zed is a pretend fish. Real elephants live outside...

So, a few possible (if strange) conclusions:
1. Ellie trusts her own judgment above what she's reading
2. More interestingly - Ellie appears to understand that things that are pretend do not have the capacity to "like" anything. Only "real" things can "like" things. And I may be wrong - but I think that's a very advanced concept, actually!

Joe was really funny. I was in the middle of telling him the story...
Joe: Wait - you told her that her fish and her elephant like her? Why would you say that? They're fake!
Me: STOP IT!!! SHE'S OBVIOUSLY YOUR BIRD CHILD AND YOU ARE BOTH SMARTER THAN I AM!!!

Isabelle, My Tiny Dancer

This little girl. I love her so! She started learning how to read in March/April, and has mastered all of her uppercase letters now, knows digraphs (ch, sh, th, wh, kn), can read words and sentences.

She's essentially caught up to Ellie - except I feel her education is lacking in vocabulary. Ellie's had nine months of vocab practice, and Isabelle only two... and that, fleetingly since I focused more on letters and words.

If Ellie is my buddy, my (awesome) challenge, my little friend, Isabelle has my heart. When I think of the beautiful moments that make life ridiculously special, so many of them are comprised of Isabelle. She is innocent and sweet, curious, expressive. Unlike her sister, she's easygoing and resilient. There's not much that a kiss, a snuggle, and a little chat can't fix for her little heart.

The other morning I was too busy to do their lessons. Her learning basket/station was on the sofa where we work together, and she hobbled over to it (she's one-footed). She sat for a half hour on her play station singing, talking, dancing, twirling... she brought her toys there, she pretended to slay dragons, all poofy and scary monster cockatoo style. She was just so very happy to play on her learning station, oblivious to the world, talking to herself and passing the time, waiting for me to join her for lessons.

My heart just melted and I gave her so many kisses and hugs.

Anyway, I'm not sure what to teach her next. Like Ellie, her accuracy rate on short words is decreasing from boredom. Tonight on 56 words it iwas 71.5%. (Previously it had been 85%.) I think I'm just going to bite the bullet and teach her lowercase letters... by then hopefully I'll have figured out this pretend story thing with Ellie, and can just apply it to Isabelle too.

Last week I asked Ellie a bunch of questions. In our interview, she declared she didn't like Isabelle.

Apparently the feeling is mutual! This is hilarious.

Bored Ellie is Bored

Ellie has different kinds of lessons now. It used to be just "Vocab". Then it was "Book" or "Vocab". Now it's Book, Vocab or Story. But she's getting bored again. She can read sentences - just the challenge of reading sentences isn't enough anymore. She wants to learn.

I tried doing some simple stories:
"This is Zed. Zed is a fish. Zed likes outside. Zed likes water. Zed likes green. Zed doesn't like grass."

That was OK - but she didn't want to keep it up. Last night we worked on body parts. She can touch Zed's eyes, his nose, she can give him a kiss, touch his tummy, and his tail.

I also have a stuffed elephant that she likes. We reviewed names (my name is Mom, your name is Ellie, her name is Isabelle, fish's name is Zed) and then I asked her if she wanted to name her elephant? ("Yes.") I figured we'd do one traditional option (Barney) and one that would help her practice the little-used X - Xerxes. She picked Barney to be his name... and now she knows Barney's big ears, that he has four feet, a long nose, and eyes.

I also taught her homonyms - know and no. Ellie knows red. Ellie knows green. Ellie knows blue. She was so cute. I said: "Do you know red?"

She kept picking "NO", so confused! Then she figured it out :) "Yes!"

Anyway, all that to say.... I'm running out of things to teach her again? She's bored - she can read sentences. She knows Zed lives in water (and Ellie lives in a house). I started to make up stories, but then thought... that would be so confusing. "Zed lives in the outside water. Outside water is called creek."

But Zed is here, next to her, and not in water. He's not outside in the creek. Barney doesn't live outside either, he's next to her too...

Maybe I'll try to say, "This is a pretend story.. Let's pretend...."

I think she challenges me at least as much as I challenge her.

Ellie's Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

Ellie's such an interesting creature - she's cerebral, not affectionate or cuddly. She wants to be mentally stimulated more than anything. She's all brains--albeit mostly mute. But she is sooooo sensitive, and can become a sad little bugger when she doesn't get her way.

I have been gone 12 days out of the last 16 days, and Ellie was really upset. I asked her questions Monday night to see if I could cheer her up:
--Do you want to play vocab? ("No")
--Do you want to read a book? ("No")
--Do you want a pancake? (Her favorite food!) ("No")
--Do you want eggs? ("No")
--Do you want tea? (Her favorite drink!) ("No")
--Do you want water? (She tolerates but doesn't love water) ("Yes")
--Do you want it hot or cold? (She doesn't like cold beverages) ("Cold")

So basically she was totally miserable and dejected and wanted only cold water and to be left to sulk about her life! She was pretty nippy, so I told her, "You can have a bad day. It's OK to be upset. But you can't bite or hurt others when you are upset."

I gave her some space to feel the fullness of her feelings - and tried to bribe her with treats. It took a few days, but my moody little critter came around!

We played this morning, and then I was away working for a good ten hours. When I started her lessons tonight I asked her:
--Do you like treats? ("Yes!")
--Do you like vocab? ("Yes!")
--Do you like pancakes? ("Yes!")
--Do you like Mom? ("No.")

By the time we finished our lessons I asked her again, "Do you like Mom?" ("Yes.")

There's something innocent about asking her questions. She shares her heart without shame or hesitation--she doesn't know those things. She just expresses her opinions, and sometimes she's not happy. And that's OK :)

My tough cockatoo, let me show you her.

Ellie's Fidget Stick

Ellie has begun bringing a little stick to chew on to all of her lessons. She actually holds it in her foot while she munches on treats - and then puts it back in her mouth for her learning! She's so odd... and, like many school children, so not odd. She literally fidgets while she learns.

Here she is - we were working on silent reading vocabulary... with a little stick in her mouth.

Ellie's Test

Some brainy stuff first.

Reading is considered a complex cognitive process utilizing many features of the brain - including the ability to visually process symbols into meaningful communication (orthography), the ability to hear sounds and combine them with the symbols (phonological awareness), the ability to put those sounds and symbols together for vocabulary development (semantic processing), etc.

The hallmark of literacy is the triggering of the self-learning mechanism - the ability to read something and add it to one's internal vocabulary - and thereby learn more things. (This is called lexical orthography.)

Pigeons and baboons have (shocking scientists) mastered orthography - the ability to decipher strings of words into 'possible meaning' - they weren't meaningful vocabulary, but they could do it. Over and over again, however, scientists say, "Reading is a uniquely-human skill."

Anyway, lots of mumbo jumbo to say, I've finished the article as far as it can go (12 pages) and have designed the tests. The first one is super easy (it may be too easy for Ellie - she gets bored and her scores go down on easy stuff), but it'll be simple words. Birds'll read them under blind conditions, easy peasy. Isabelle already does this, and she's only started learning to read two months ago.

The really cool test - the hallmark of reading - is whether the birds can decode words by sight, and then later recall them when verbally prompted. I tested her ability to silently read words and later recall the when verbally prompted...

AND OMG SHE DID IT!!! Afterward I cried with happiness and called Joe and my Mom! :)

Letter to Parrots

Dear Ellie and Isabelle,

I am in Oregon, in a little cabin in the mountains, sitting by a fire and enjoying the view of the river just under the deck, the peaks of the mountains not too far off. The fog dwindles down the mountain. It is unspeakably beautiful here. Writing in a cabin in the mountains by a river... a small dream come true.

I'm writing an article--your article--about how you learned to read. I'm seeped seven pages into this sucker, with an entire page of references already. I've written the introduction, reviewed prior research and have already written all about the materials and stimuli used to teach you. The other researcher and I have discussed you today, and the organization of this article, and at her prompting, I've written to three journals about their interest in publishing this material.

And with all of that background, I get to you, my sweet girls. Procedure is this section, and I must relive the moments of joy as I watched you learn to touch colors, then discriminate between colors... (Isabelle, I thought you'd really never learn! You always tossed the colors across the room--FOR MONTHS--and I honestly decided you were my artistic, expressive, but-not-very-bright bird child. And now you rival Ellie in your word-recognition skills!) Then as you touched the letter A for the very first time.. and then B, and C and all the letters that came after. As you distinguished BALL from BELL and cascaded into reading words and danced into emerging reader books.

I sit here, writing and reliving these memories and bawling with pride because you are the most amazing little bird girls on earth, and I am so honored to be your "bird mama". I have a notebook full of research articles on "orthographic processing in animals" - and researchers say over and over again: reading is a complex cognitive process rooted in language development, and it is a uniquely human process.

And you two have shown that it's not. You are incredible and smart and colorful and amazing. I love that you LOVE to learn, that you beg me every single day to teach you more, that you don't shy away from hard tasks.

It is a privilege to share my life with you.

With more love than could ever be described,

J

Isabelle Learns to Read!

Some very exciting news is Isabelle! She had the most adorable "aha!" moment last week while we were working on her flash cards. Isabelle learned phonetic letters and then I began teaching her words. She wasn't really getting the word thing, so I started teaching her to sound them out. "Which one starts with S? Which one starts with T?" After we'd go through her cards, sounding out the first letters, I'd go through the cards again asking, "Which one says, SIT? Which one says TALL?" This way she'd already looked at the first letters - and now could expand it to the word.

So last week, all of a sudden, her eyes lit up and she had the cutest, most excited cockatoo smile ever, and was like OMG I GET IT I GET IT I GET IT!!!!!! She started picking out the words like a boss! I had to run and find all of Ellie's old site words, and then she knocked them out like crazy!

Yesterday I gave her 16 new words she'd never seen before. We didn't pre-read them, sounding them out, we just read them, straight. SHE GOT 88% CORRECT!!! She missed TWO out of SIXTEEN!!! OMG I was sooo proud of her! My little reader <3 <3 <3 (And to think, I didn't really believe she could learn it, haha!)

Here's our video :)

Ellie: Morning Hero of the House

Stopping at the library each month for new books for my girls feels like being a parent at Christmastime. I find topical books (this month, pigs, since Ellie seems to have interest), as well as learning books (numbers for Ellie, colors for Isabelle)... and then bring them home as a surprise to my cute girls and we read them all month long.

This morning I worked with Isabelle on her lessons. She started learning to read words a few weeks ago. She doesn't grasp patterns as quickly as Ellie, but she's getting there. So she is learning the phonetic alphabet, but she's also learning to apply those letters to the idea of words.

She's having trouble transferring the sounds to the entire word, but I think she'll get there.

ANYWAY, since she's learning small words, I figured it was time to introduce her to the concept of books. Here's Isabelle learning to touch the page. :)

Ellie was the hero of the house, however. After teaching Isabelle, I brought Ellie over to work on book-reading. It was clear she didn't really want to read - she kept scurrying off and on her learning basket. I figured she wanted to go outside, but wasn't going to let her off so easily. I brought her little whiteboard over so she'd have to read it and pick "outside".

Instead, she darted to Eggs and Juice and bobbed between those two like a deranged mouse. So... eggs and juice it was! LOL! And everyone loves eggs and juice, so all of the birds were excited to have breakfast together!

Ellie and the Science Museum!

Ellie and I were invited to speak to a parrot club about how she's learning to read.  It was held at the science museum in a big city an hour from our home. She's a pretty good sport about going out - she enjoys meeting new people, so I stuck her in a travel carrier and we set off. The museum itself was pretty frightening to her, unfortunately. I didn't anticipate all the noise and movement - and the room was on the second floor, past so much activity (poor thing)!

Then, in the room, lots of people had brought their birds, so... even more stuff.

The lecture went alright. We spoke a few months ago to another bird club a bit closer. There weren't any other birds there and it was at our vet's office, so she was familiar with the location. She saw a lot of people she already knew there, so she had a good time and did soooo well with her cute reading!

At the science museum, between the chilly room, the trauma from coming in, and all the birds (and noise) in the room, she was solidly overwhelmed. She mostly wanted to sit and warm her little feet up, so didn't read a lot. That was fine - I brought lots of backup videos, and then started using my mom as an example for the learning process. That woke Ellie up! She was NOT going to be outdone! So she popped up and--quite halfheartedly--demonstrated how to learn colors. She's a hilarious, apathetic little anti-hero. She did a few other little reading examples before skulking off to warm her feet and recover from trauma once more.

Getting out, I covered her traveling cage, but someone was pressure-washing the sidewalk outside... scariest noise ever for her... poor thing. She's still (two days later) a little upset by the whole experience. On the way home I stopped at a Greek restaurant and we played together and ate some Greek food to cheer her up.

Oh well. So many lessons learned! It was our second community lecture (the first went really, really well), and it was a good and low-pressure place, so that worked out. :)

Time After Time

If you fall I will catch you
I'll be waiting...
Time After Time.

It's been a neat learning week for my cute girls! Ellie is enjoying our new sessions on units of time. I began by teaching her vocabulary: the days of the week, today, tomorrow, yesterday, morning, afternoon, night, and then added to that a lot of the daily activities. So we just practiced "hearing" the words and selecting them on flashcards. Every day, throughout the day, I'd also tell her "Today is Monday" (or whatever).

I put the days of the week on the wall with a little arrow, and the arrow moves to indicate the day of the week. Every day I say, "Today is ____. Touch ___!" and she touches that word on the wall. Then I say, "Yesterday was ______" - she touches the word; "Tomorrow is _____", etc.

After we'd done two days of vocabulary and wall practice, I started pairing her flash cards.
TODAY | MONDAY
TOMORROW | TUESDAY
YESTERDAY | SUNDAY

Hence, this conversation successfully ensued the other day!
Me: Ellie, what's today? 
Ellie: Saturday
Me: What was yesterday? 
Ellie: Friday
Me: What is tomorrow? 
Ellie: Sunday

She doesn't actually know what ANY of that means. We're still working on pairing concepts, but I was so very, very proud of her for pairing "yesterday" with "Friday", etc! It's a huge start!

Today we started pairing her "Today is MONDAY" vocabulary with the activities of Monday:

I held up flashcards: TODAY | MORNING | MOM CLEANS ROOM
TODAY | MORNING | EAT | BREAKFAST | EGGS
TODAY | MORNING | MOM MAKES JUICE
TODAY | MORNING | ELLIE KISSES MOM
TODAY | MORNING | VOCAB
TODAY | MORNING | SHOWER

TODAY | AFTERNOON | MOM WORKS
TODAY | AFTERNOON | ELLIE PLAYS IN ROOM

TODAY | NIGHT | ELLIE READS BOOK
TODAY | NIGHT | SLEEP


I began teaching Isabelle her ABC's last week. I love this little girl... she is my heart! As tender and affectionate as she is, I didn't actually think she was all that, um, learning-oriented. But she's really, really getting there! And she looooooves learning! Her little eyes sparkle with happiness when she's practicing her letters and words! She's so proud to be learning like her big sister!!!

As of today, Isabelle has learned A, B, C, D, E, L, and T. She's also learned vocabulary words: VOCAB, SHOWER, OUTSIDE, BALL, BANANA and BELL. This reminds me that I've forgotten to be adding her vocabulary as she learns new letters. Oops!

Anyway, she's reading her very first words now! She doesn't *totally* get the concept, but she's really, really hanging in there!!! I think it'll get easier with time.

These two are so different. Ellie seems to grasp ideas as fast as I can toss them at her. She's just sharp and THERE, dying to learn, almost intrinsically understanding what I'm teaching her as quickly as I put it out there. BUT she's impulsive. She selects wrong words because she wants quick rewards - and because on rote exercises she doesn't want to think anymore. She gets bored, she wants to learn, not practice.

Isabelle is slower with grasping ideas, but she's methodical in her approach. I suspect impulsivity will be less of a challenge for her. She's a delightful student - chatty and dramatic while we work.

Here's a pic from the first day she learned words.

Science Becomes Her

I've been trying to figure out how to do All of the Science on Ellie, of course. I thought:
1. Maybe I should collaborate with an actual scientist. I thought maybe I'd go to the local university, march down the psychology corridor and find some researcher to collaborate with me on the study. Problem: it seems scientists steal each other's ideas a lot. And I'm not exactly set up to pound this out fast--I have a day job :(
2. Maybe I should do it myself. I read about amateur scientists online... and none of them collaborated with normal scientists.

So, I decided to call my much-beloved avian veterinarian (who is actually really famous and also a researcher in avian health). She suggested I look up some parrot studies and study their methods.

Research articles are expensive! I spent $39.99 ON ONE ARTICLE. :(:(:(

I started reading a study about parrots and felt kind of sad. As part of the study, they actually scold the parrots/rival participants for not properly participating, and if the parrot isn't cooperating, they threaten the parrot that they are going to walk away and quit.  :( :(

Our learning sessions are always and without exception on Ellie's terms. She's never, ever punished for not wanting to learn... if she doesn't want to work on vocabulary, we will engage in other play activities instead. And scolding isn't really a part of our household. I felt so sad for the birds! I'm glad that avian husbandry is evolving away from ANY fear-based interactions with our birds.

I'm not perfect, I definitely have moments where I'm like, "IF EVERYONE COULD STOP BITING ME THAT WOULD BE GREAT!!!" But punishment/scolding is solidly not part of our lives.

I was dreaming a little about what it would be like to have become a researcher and have a little lab with parrots. And then I realized: I do have a little lab with parrots - three to be precise! We have a cockatoo lab, and both are learning to read! AND I get to work from home! Haha!

I've figured out the study I want to do, and am going to start writing it up. When my mom returns in a few weeks, we'll try to execute it. The really cool thing is that the parrot's accuracy rate in published parrot studies is very similar to Ellie's - 70%-75%.

We've got this!!! And there will be NO scolding!!! Learning and experiments are completely on Ellie's terms!

THE ELLIE FILES #1: Experimenting with Experiments

I have three cute parrots, Isabelle, an Umbrella Cockatoo (almost 3), Ellie, a Goffin's Cockatoo (almost 5) and Lily, a parrotlet, who is 6.

Ellie is a pint-sized genius parrot, and last August I began teaching her how to read. Now she reads a wide variety of small words and even sentences and little emerging reader children's books. Here's a video of her reading a book last week! :)

So. In between all of the millions of hours I'm working on our small business right now, I've been trying to do tests on Ellie. I'm calling them The Ellie Files :D

I've really struggled to find a format that would work with Ellie in a blind-study sense. Here's a video of how I normally do flash cards with my little reading parrot:

We tried putting cards on the wall and had her read words and identify them with objects, but it is long and boring for her, so she didn't love it. She actually did a really, really good job, but not consistently, and it was clearly not going to work for us, long term. There was the added problem that it wasn't blind - I knew what the cards said. Here's a video of that experiment:

We tried having my mom Skype with me and read cards while I actually had a blindfold on my face, and that was an interesting attempt, but my Mom in subsequent sessions couldn't read the cards, and I didn't hold them up properly for Ellie...

SO WE HAVE FOUND A SOLUTION. I taped a few cards together - so that I can't see what I'm holding up. Then I split the vocabulary cards into two at a time - and wrote on a separate card which two were in each stack. I don't know the order, but I know that one is "SIT" and the other is "PET" for instance - so now it's blind, and I can hold them up properly, and she can select them!!! :)

Alas my little creature of habit is satisfied that the game moves quickly, AND IT IS A BLIND STUDY!!!

Ellie's Cards

On Friday I was contacted by three animal trainers :) They are curious about Ellie, and want to know more! They recommended some adjustments to her training. One is straightforward - they want me to use all the same flash cards, with printed type, all the same font, uniform.

Up until now, her flash cards have been haphazardly created, on a whim and on the spot, because all of a sudden it was a teachable moment--so I'd grab a color pencil and a card. She has (and I didn't realize this until Sunday) - over 150 flash cards. They are our link to communication, our way of getting to know one another. Our way of discussing things, like whether she wants to read a book or have a kiss. They are the way we've explored her world together, and brought her world to life.

So on Sunday I printed out only SOME of our flash cards - nearly 150 - and collected her old ones from nooks and crannies around the house to retire them. It was so sad, like putting away her baby clothes because she's gotten too big to fit in them anymore.

All of these words, and the memories of teaching them to her these past six months. We started working on her 'big-girl' flash cards today. She's adjusting alright. Some of the changes are caps vs. lower case. A lot of her old flash cards were all caps, because I used them before I taught her lower-case, so we're making some adjustments there.

It's neat that she is progressing--it's neat that maybe she'll actually be deemed the first reading parrot on earth :)

But I will miss our old cards, and I think she does too. She bit me four times this morning! "DO NOT LOVE!!!" she'd say, if she'd learned it. But tonight we spent a lot of time playing with them and bonding.

Awwww, Ellie's baby flash cards. <3 <3 <3

Ellie's Worst Day Ever (Or, The Ethics of Teaching)

Today is Ellie's Worst Day Ever because it is beautiful outside and she wants nothing more than to play in the hose in the warm sun. The trouble is that there are hawks outside... So she can't actually go outside.

But shower and outside are vocabulary words for her, and she knows that I know that she wants to go outside... so, we have had the poutiest, most awful day ever! LOL

She pulled my glasses off twice, and threw them on the ground, she dumped her food and water, refused to do any training, didn't want to read, bit me a few times, and generally was sulky for hours. I even asked if she wanted to be in her room or in the kitchen today, and she bit chunks out of the cards and ignored me.

So... if it were possible to explain to her the idea that hawks are outside and could kill her, would you? She doesn't understand pain, I don't think - she's never really been injured.

Isabelle DOES chase her, so I could try to teach her, "Hawk Outside. Hawk Bite."

We could watch YouTube videos, but that would probably scar us...

Not sure how to approach this one. I did know that teaching Ellie vocabulary and literacy would mean a great deal of negotiating. This is our first :)