The Blood Draw Learning Kit

Background

In 2011, Bee Visual partnered with Children's Hospital Boston and Carol Gray's Gray Center for Social Learning and Understanding to create the Blood Draw Learning Kit, a picture-based preparation kit for one of the hardest moments a child faces at the doctor's office. Researchers reported blood-draw success rising from about 86 percent to 96 percent with the kit program in place, and 37 of 38 children with high anticipatory anxiety completed their draw (Autism Spectrum Quarterly, Spring 2012). The idea was simple: the child could see what was going to happen and do it first, safely, at home, so the real day already had a familiar ending.

The hospital tells the story in its own words in its 2011 TIDO annual report. The clinical summary also lives on our For Schools page.

The supplies were sourced from a medical manufacturer who delivered our special request of making butterfly needles without the needle, so a child could hold and practice with the true items safely. And every kit was packed by hand: Michele and her sons ran an assembly line on the pool table downstairs, four bandages, the butterfly needle, gloves, an alcohol swab, the instruction sheet, and the Getting My Blood Drawn story in every box, sealed with two clear discs. The boys did it as their community service project.

The design was Michele's own, too: she designed the box, the packaging, and the pictures on it. Those pictures, and the kit's schedule, live on today inside Choiceworks as the blood draw sample board.

Please read first

An adult supervises every practice session. Practice items only, never real needles, never anything sharp. This kit teaches a child what will happen at a blood draw; it is not medical advice. Questions about your child's care go to your child's doctor.

Practice at home

A child can play doctor, practicing on a teddy bear or a parent before being the patient, and rehearse the small ambushes too, like the alcohol wipe that surprises twice at once, the sharp smell and the cold on the arm.

The kit's instruction sheet walks it step by step: read the story book together, show your child each item, then gloves on, the tourniquet loosely around the arm, the alcohol swab, the butterfly gently on the skin with "a little poke!", a bandage, and the reward. A little practice every day the week before. Creativity counts!

Do not have the kit? You can still do all of this at home. You can find most items from the kit at your local drugstore. Print the story book and the instruction sheet below, then gather the rest from the drugstore: rubber gloves, alcohol swabs, bandages, and a soft ribbon or stretchy band for the tourniquet. Never anything sharp; a gentle fingertip tap plays the part of "a little poke!". And the kit's schedule is already waiting inside Choiceworks as the blood draw sample board.

Inside Choiceworks

The blood draw schedule is now live inside the Choiceworks app as a ready-made sample board.

Download on the App Store