Let's Talk About It -- Week 2

To begin week 2, we received data on our patients from a group working with the SLG lab. This group tested each patient’s working memory and assigned each a score – or working memory class – from 1 to 4, 4 being high performance and “good” working memory and 1 being the opposite end of the spectrum. However, we received this data only as the patient’s identification number and the working memory class they were assigned. My job was to fill in our master sheet with the data, adding the working memory class to the rest of the genome information for each patient. As could be expected, most of the typically developing children scores 3s and 4s while the patients with dyslexia, speech disorders, or both typically scored 1s and 2s.

Last week, we marked all the chromosomal regions our patients displayed against regions known in previously published studies to cause speech problems. Not that we have this data, week 2 consisted of analyzing our data for chromosomal regions not specifically mentioned in other cases in search of a genetic region that could be linked to speech disorders. To do this, I created a blank spreadsheet and copied over any regions in which there was an overlap between at least two affected individuals, giving us a long list of chromosomal regions that could possibly cause or worsen speech impairments.

The CHILL lab too began to get exciting. On Friday, I began playing the pirate themed computer game meant to test working memory. Even though these assessments were made for 6th graders, I found them difficult. The tasks I completed focused on two different types of memory. In the first and hardest trial, I was presented with atypical polygons paired with names made from random combinations of syllables, for example, a shape like this:

combined with the name: buvdape. After flashing six pairs of polygons and names across the screen, I would hear the name of a polygon and have to pick the correct shape from a lineup of the polygons I'd seen. 

This task was so difficult I had to repeat the introduction several times. 

However on other islands - as the game centers around a pirate moving from place to place and completing assessments for treasure - I performed more preferably. I best remember strings of  numbers and can repeat them back out loud, write them down, or even remember them for significant periods of time after initially hearing them. 

These tests in the CHILL lab proved interesting, and I hadn't even finished half of them. Hopefully next week I will be able to continue analysis of the genes thought to cause dyslexia and speech impairments in the SLG lab, and complete the rest of the islands in the CHILL lab. But first, I have hours of club volleyball to watch at the festival fiesta tournament!

Until next week :)