A Life in the Day of...

On a hot sweltering day in June, you are home at your family’s house during the break from college. Your name is Morgan, and you have dyslexia which has been a pain this semester due to the heavy reading load you have had. You are tired and just want to enjoy baking. To celebrate your favorite holiday, which is obviously Flag Day, you are going to make classic chocolate chip cookies. Your next-door neighbor gave you the best recipe, so you pull that out from the messy kitchen drawer. Wow this is a great song… [[//Oh is mom talking about me? …//->Scene 3]]

It is time to get baking… //I wonder what mom is saying, she is talking so softly.// ~~//tune her out//~~ Let me just listen… oh my god they are talking about me! I might as well leave, they don’t seem to want me here. [[sit on floor, maybe that will calm me down->Black Screen]] [[oh i’ll just get started with baking, whatever->Scene 4]]

I don’t know why they won’t just talk to me?? Did I not spend enough time with the company last night? [[Did I say something that was stupid?->Scene 4]]

<img src="Images/recipe.png" alt="recipe" /> [[read Ingredients->Ingredients]]

1... Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking pan with parch ment paper and set inside... ? aside. [[//Okay got that//->Step 2]]

<img src="Images/flour.gif" alt="recipe" /> //Huh? I didn't get that// [[Add what you think the recipe would say->Step 2 Guess]] [[Read over again outloud->Step 2 Reread]]

//Okay usually recipes have you add all dry ingredients first so…// //Hmm was this right?// [[Look at recipe card again.->Step 2 Look Again]] [[//eh probably okay to wing it//->Step 2 Good Enough]]

<img src="Images/flour.gif" alt="recipe"/> //In a sep er it bowl mix flowers... flower backing... baking soda salt set inside... aside// [[//Alright that makes sense.//->Step 3]]

<img src="Images/steps.png" alt= "steps" /> 3.... Mix to geth er butter and sugar until combined. //Alright now butter and sugar.// [[//next step//->Step 4]]

You look at recipe card again, <img src="Images/recipe.gif" alt="recipe" /> //Oh flour, 2 cups. Okay one more cup.// [[//I'm ready for the next step//->Step 3]]

<img src="Images/steps.png" alt = "recipe"/> Meaz ure out 1 cup of brown sugar and pour in bowl. Meaz ure equal parts of baking soda and power. [[//That's good enough//->Step 3]]

<img src="Images/eggs.gif" alt = "recipe"/> 4... Beet in eggs and van ill uh un til fluffy. [[//Done and done!//->Step 5]]

5... Mix in the dry in greed E ents until combined. //Oh no! I never got to the other dry ingredients// [[Add ingredients->Dry Ingredients]]

<img src="Images/eating_cookie.gif" alt="eating coockie gif"/> Your brother Adam walks into the kitchen. The sweet scent of cookies lingering throughout the house must have brought him here. Adam maneuvers himself towards the finished cookies and points down towards your completed desert. “Can I have one?” He asks, already reaching for one. You nod as he puts the cookie up to his mouth and takes a bite. His expression sours as he chews, “Oh wow." //Oh shit… did I forget something?// You begin to question what you put into the cookies, “What is wrong with them? I followed the recipe.” Before even swallowing the piece of cookie you see Adam's facial expression turn to even more disgust and frustration. "Oh man I did it again." [[Feeling stressed, you remove yourself from the situation.->Stressed]] [[Disappointed that they didn't taste good, you talk about it to Adam.->Apologetic]]

I don’t even know what to do anymore. I have to leave. I can’t be here. I need to leave. I need to be safe. I need to leave. [[You leave.->End]]

“Ah damn Adam, I must have really messed up. I got so many lines confused while reading the new roman font, and trying to do so many other things at the same time." Adam put the cookie he bit back down on the kitchen countertop, “Hey Morgan don’t worry about it, we can make them over together if you want?” [[“Yea lets make them together”->Screen 6A]] [[“I can do it on my own. Thanks for offering though.”->Screen 6B]] “No way I should have been able to-do this on my own." [[You leave.->End]]

Morgan has dyslexia, and in this regard, they are similar to 20% of the United States population. Suffice to say Morgan is not alone, however. Many people mistake dyslexia for a lack of intellect, but dyslexia is not tied to intelligence. It can appear as an unexpected difficulty in reading for those who have the intelligence to read at a higher level. This is because of the difficulty in “phonological processing (the appreciation of the individual sounds of spoken language)”, which negatively affects that person’s ability to speak, read, spell, and learn a second language^^1^^. This gap between the high capacity to understand and the difficulty to decode and sometimes communicate can cause individuals like Morgan to have low self-esteem. For more information on skills that are affected by dyslexia please read here^^2^^. Dyslexia affects learning, but not intelligence. In fact, many people with dyslexia are quick and creative thinkers with a high-level ability to reason^^1^^. A few examples of well-known successful people are Leonardo Di Vinci, Walt Disney, Steven Spielberg, and Maggie Aderin-Pecock^^3^^. Morgan was diagnosed with dyslexia when they were young, but people may be diagnosed at any age. If you are involved in the Georgia Institute of Technology and would like to get counsel for receiving help for dyslexia, please contact the Office of Disability Services^^4^^. If you are not and think you may have dyslexia, please look for a service near you; getting diagnosed and treated for dyslexia can greatly improve your quality of life. [[Citations and thanks->Citations]]

You restart making cookies with Adam. When reading out loud to your brother, he double checks the recipe and corrects some small mistakes you made. The cookies come out as delicious as they smell. After the baking, you feel //embarrassed// that you needed help. Also, you feel okay with it, who doesn't need help every once in a while right? [[You and your brother enjoy the Flag Day cookies.->End]]

<img src="Images/computerBG.png" alt="eating coockie gif"/> Adam leaves the kitchen to let you work on your own. You restart making cookies looking up a YouTube video of someone making some from a similar recipe. Thus you are able to make your Flag Day cookies. The cookies come out as delicious as they smell and your brother re-enters the kitchen. He eats one and pipes up, “Dang Morgan, these cookies are great.” Throughout the rest of the day, you feel a mixture of dissapointment in what you see as failing in making the first batch and excitement becasue people seem to really like the second batch. [[It turned out okay.->End]]

<img src="Images/frontCover.gif" alt="front cover" /> [[Start->intro]]

<img src="Images/recipe.gif" alt="recipe" /> The words blur and buzz together. You try to scan down the lines to understand the ingredients list. You are tired of this. All you wanted to do was relax and make cookies. [[start with Instructions instead.->Step 1]]

<img src="Images/baking_soda.gif" alt="baking soda"/> // Forgot baking pow... soda. Which one was it? // [[add this ingredient-> bake]]

<img src="Images/steps.png" alt="steps"/> [[roll cookies and bake->Screen 5]]