The Fair Edition

This weekend was our annual town fair.  It's an event we've enjoyed going to ever since moving to this town.  Thursday night is fireworks - but those were cancelled this year because we are in a Triple E mosquito lock-down (after dark activities are strongly discouraged).  Then the fair runs Friday night through dinner on Sunday, with a parade Saturday morning.

The fair offers rides, local vendors (our friends Tom and Kathy sell the best honey and kettle corn), local clubs (all hosting kid games for charity), 4H exhibits, food, agricultural, food and craft competitions.  They changed the way the kids exhibits are judged (now done on the danish system; whatever that means and how it compares to how things were judged before) - but Ray still won plenty of blue, red and white ribbons for his photography and crafts - and yours truly placed in 2nd for her chocolate chip cookies.  Ha-ha!!  I knew I was a good baker. 

Waiting in line for the plane ride.

RR picking up the older chicks on the til-a-whirl.

Yummy apple!!

RR showing off the cookie he decorated himself.

TT checking out the tortoise.

He's a goof.

Hanging out on the merry-go-round w/ Daddy.

Big slide!!!

So - you know what happens when your kid gets to be 36" tall?  They get to go on the kiddie rides ALONE!!!  Yeah, that wasn't happening but I did let him go with his big brother.

I spent the entire ride chasing their cart around yelling "Hold onto your brother!!".  Yes, the dragons "flew" in the air.  

He's a natural.

Gathering up all the chickens at "farmer for the day"

Watching the chicken races.  

Test Subject

At the beginning of the summer I learned about a research study being conducted at UMass Amherst that was looking for children volunteers.

The study was in regards to the communication characteristics of Asperger and High Functioning Autistic children versus nuero-typical children and was being conducted by a doctoral candidate as part of her thesis.

RR fit the criteria, and after getting more information on the study I asked him if he would like to participate.

He eagerly agreed.   RR loves doing little tests and showing off for people.  RR loves talking.  Oh, and he really loves money (yes, I told him he could keep the stipend).  

So he got all signed up and we waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  The study was suppose to happen in two sessions over the summer.  When September rolled around I thought it had been called off; and then we got the e-mail with dates and times.

This past weekend we ventured off to UMass - and what a venture; apparently street signs are not allowed in Amherst.... and RR got to go and do his part.

We sat in a sound booth with a two way mirror.  He sat on one side with the assistant that preformed the test and I sat on the other side (so cool to watch him and hear him in stereo) with the doctoral candidate (DC).  He got to wear a microphone that would have made Justin Bieber jealous.   

aaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh  - he went
ppppppppeeeeeeee ppppeeeeee - he

He made up stories based on pictures they showed him.  What a story teller that boy is.  DC commented about how you could tell he had a superior IQ based on the words he chose and how he told the stories (she had a copy of his profile which included his IQ scores and diagnosis).

They sang Happy Birthday... he forgot the words.  Oh wait, he forgot the words to the "regular" version... but he knows the one when you sing about people smelling like monkeys.... happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, you smell like a monkey and you look like one too.

45 minutes later he was done.  Done and jazzed, so excited.

He signed his first consent form, and I signed as well.  His voice recordings have been released (with no identifying information) to be used in conducting research and shared with students for educational purposes. Man, did he feel like a grown-up signing the form.  His chest was all puffed out and he wrote as neatly as possible.

So proud of my boy.

And many thanks to John Elder Robinson for turning us on to the study.  You can read more about it here.