CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- There is new information from an asthma study in Charlotte designed to help sufferers cope with the illness.

Rachel Legrand, 10, is not thrilled with the nose plug. But Allison McLacklan, the research assistant at UNC Charlotte said it's a necessary part of a $2 million asthma study. The testing mimics an asthma attack.

"About every 10 or 15 seconds, resistance is added to the regular breath they're taking. It's kind of like when you're breathing out of a straw, and somebody's pinching it," said McLacklan.

Legrand presses buttons to tell McLacklan how hard her lungs seem to be working. It's Legrand's perception of the attack that researchers at UNC Charlotte are studying.

"We think if there is improved correspondence between how an individual feels and the actual level or presence of asthma. That will result in better behaviors that result in improved management of asthma," said Andrew Harver, PhD.

In other words, the sooner Legrand feels an asthma attack coming on, the easier it is to treat. Her mom, Elizabeth Legrand, will tell you, it's scary having a child who struggles to breathe.

"When she was an infant and a toddler, there were times when she was on 10 different medications at a time," she said.

Elizabeth Legrand said it has always been hard to figure out what her daughter needed and what triggers an attack.

Rachael's asthma has varied in intensity through her childhood.

"I've got a medicine what I take every day and an inhaler if I need it," she said.

Prior to the study, asthma patients had to keep diaries at home as a means of tracking symptoms. Those diaries aren't always accurate.

"The connection between symptoms, how people feel and their behaviors based on how they feel is of primary importance to us," said Harver.

Hopefully, Rachael and the other children involved will provide the real clues needed to fight the disease.

The asthma research is called Project on TRAC and they can use more children with asthma in the study. For more information about the research, click on www.projectontrac.uncc.edu.