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
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