"That said, being dyslexic, I wasn't a great reader when I was kid." -Richard Ford
Chapter Synopsis: Leif and Lola teach Alexa about literacy, with limited success...
"We were so happy. Leif doted on her as much as he could. We taught her how to walk…"
Scene transitions into the living room. Leif and Lola are trying to get Alexa to walk over to where they are.
"Come on, you can do it, Alexa."
"Walk over here."
She manages to toddle over to them, gaining mass adulation from her parents.
"Congratulations, you did it."
"We're proud of you!"
"How to talk…"
Scene cuts to them teaching Alexa how to spell out words.
"Ok, Alexa. Spell out "autem".
"A-u-t-u-m-n."
I pull Leif aside.
"What are you doing?"
"Teaching our daughter how to spell, Lola."
"But she can't even understand English words yet! So, why are you trying to get her to spell out Latin words?"
"I wanted to see if she could do it."
"Not even most adults understand Latin! What makes you think a 3-year-old would?"
"No, you're right. So what English word do you want her to spell?"
"How about…. "however?""
I turn and face Alexa.
"Alexa, can you spell the word "however"?
Alexa gives a confused glance at me.
"Maybe she needs to hear it in a sentence."
Leif turns to Alexa.
"Ok, here's a sentence for context: "Your mom might be prim and perfect now, however, when she was 6-years-old, she was kind of infamous for being a spoiled brat.""
I give an intense glare at him.
"Oh, come on, Lola. You know it's true. Besides, I'm just teasing you."
Alexa starts to spell out a word.
"H-o-w-a-v-e-r"
"You know, I think our daughter knows the words, but is misspelling them on purpose just to mess with us."
"Maybe, she should write them."
The scene cuts to Alexa in front of a desk with a pencil and a piece of paper.
"Ok, sweetie pie, spell out the word "petunia"". I gently nudged at her
She writes down a word.
"Ok, let mommy see how you did."
I read off the letters one-by-one.
"P-e"
"This is a good start, Alexa."
"c-u-n-i-a".
"Well, she did spell the word correc-" I realize. "Wait, "pecunia"? I asked you to spell the word "petunia", Alexa! "Pecunia" isn't even a real word!"
"Actually, my dear Lola, it is. "Pecunia" means "money" in Latin." Leif corrected "Well, at least we know. Alexa can spell and write correctly, but she's just playing with us."
Leif walks over to her and ruffles her hair. He then gently pats her on the head.
"Aww, I just can't stay mad at you, my adorable little scamp."
Alexa gives a cute, heart-meltingly adorable smile back at him.
"How to read, though I will admit that was a challenge."
Scene cuts to Alexa in front of a book. She slowly processing the words on the page.
"On-es a-pawn a thymore." She struggled
"How is it she can read and write words correctly, but struggle to read them on a page?"
"Wait, I think I know what it is. After all, I had trouble reading when I was her age."
"Wait? You couldn't read?"
"It was too hard for me, but my brother taught me that reading isn't as hard as it should be."
I head on over to where Alexa is reading.
"Hey, what's going on?" As I try to make small talk with her
"I'm trying to read this book, but I can't understand how the words fit on the page?! I hate reading!"
She throws the book aside.
"Hey there, I know what you're feeling. I had trouble reading when I was your age, too."
"Really, mom? You had trouble reading before? But I've seen you read so effortlessly now."
"That's because my brother taught me how to read. And now, I'm going to teach you how to read, just like he did."
"Are you sure? I'm so slow…"
"We'll get through it together. And you'll see, the more you read, the easier it gets."
…
…
…
"Huh? Is there an echo chamber in here? I feel like I've heard those words before…"
A few hours later…
"And they lived happily ever after, the end."
"You did it, Alexa, you got through an entire book!"
"Aw, but that was only because you helped me, mom…"
The next day…
"You did WHAT?! Leif!"
"Sorry, Lola. But it's already set up. I'm worried about our daughter. She can't read at the same pace as the other 6-year-olds at her school. We're going to the doctor to see if she has a learning disability."
Leif drives his family over to the doctor. They eventually meet up with her.
"Hello, Loud family, I'm Dr. Griffin. This is the patient, I presume?"
"Yes, this is our daughter, Alexa. Say hi to the nice lady, dear."
"Hi."
"Aw, how cute! But you said you think she has a learning disability?"
"Yes."
"Well, can she come on over into that room so that I can test her?" She says while pointing to a room behind her."
"Sure. Alexa, can you go with Dr. Griffin here? Don't worry, we'll be right out here."
"Ok, daddy." Alexa says as she ambles to the doctor's room. Approximately 45 minutes later. Both of them return back to the lobby.
"Ok, before I can give an accurate diagnosis, I'm curious... does one of you have dyslexia?"
"I do." I admit "But I am getting better at reading."
"Ah, I see. Well then, in my expert opinion, I think Alexa has Synlexia."
"Synlexia? What is that?"
"Synlexia is a learning abnormality that a child can rarely inherit from their parents."
Dr. Griffin pulls out a tablet which has a slideshow on it. She plays it for them.
"See, synlexia lets the child copy the literacy skills of their parents. Ordinarily this would do nothing. But if a person has hyperlexia, then something like this will happen."
A picture of 2 people is shown. The one that looks like Leif says:
"Vos sunt quod optimum rem id semper factum ut mihi, mea filiae."
The one that looks like Alexa says in response:
"Ego diligitis vos ita tantum, pater."
"So, they can copy learned languages?" I enquired
"Yes." Dr. Griffin responded "But on the flipside, if one of the parents has dyslexia…"
The slideshow now shows a picture of a person that looks like Lola, who is trying to read from a book to the person who looks like Alexa.
"Tuh-huh-ee cowl juhmpt o-vere the mun."
The figure that looks like Alexa tries to read, but to no avail.
"Jak climed a top thee beenstawlk two sea the ghiantz casle in the skeye."
"Oh, I see."
"Don't worry, the treatments for dyslexia also works for a synlexic copying a dyslexic parent. So, if you were able to overcome your dyslexia, Mrs. Loud, then I'm sure your daughter can too!" Dr. Griffin assured me
"Oh, ok. Thanks for everything, Doc."
"Anytime."
We leave the doctor's office and head back to our house.
"That's great, Alexa. You just have to keep practicing, and you'll be able to read just like me."
"Yay! I want to be like you, mommy." Alexa chimed happily. I give a kind smile in response
I go over to talk to Leif.
"Ah, she's great, isn't she?" Leif commented
"Yes, but…"
"But what, Lola?"
"Well…I wanted a son."
"What?! Don't you love Alexa?!"
"Of course, I do! It's just…I want to raise a son, too…"
"Ok, while I would love to raise another child, don't you think one is enough for us?"
"No…?"
"Well, I'll ask Alexa, after all, she's family too, and she should have a say-so in the matter."
Leif goes over to Alexa.
"Hey, Alexa."
"Hi, daddy."
"Listen, I want your opinion on something. Do you want a sibling?"
…
…
…
"Yes! I'll be the best big sister ever!" Alexa declared proudly
"Ok, I'll tell your mother."
Leif goes over to me.
"She said yes."
"I'll spare you the details this time since you already heard this once before, but I'll skip ahead to when we name our child."
"Ok, Mrs. Loud. This time it's a baby boy."
"What should we name it."
"Since he'll take after you, Lola. How about… Lyle?"
"Ok then, Lyle. Welcome to the world, I'm your mother, Lola. That's your sister, Alexa, and that's your father, Leif."
"And that's when things got…interesting."
Preview
"Oh, I'm glad you came back." Leif said exasperatedly "Say, Lola. Were you ever difficult as a child?"
"You mean aside from being a spoiled brat and beating up my twin sister on a regular occasion, no."
Author's Note: It is kind of impressive that a 3-year-old can spell out the word "autumn". Although, Leif wanted to see if she can spell the word "autem". Originally, Alexa was going to confuse the words "however" and "howitzer". However is an auxiliary adverb, whereas a howitzer is a cannon outfitted as an artillery weapon. And yes, Leif was right, Alexa does know the words, but she's misspelling them on purpose to mess with them. I mean, she can spell out the Latin word for "money" perfectly.
A note about Synlexia, the person with the abnormality can only copy one of their parents. As Dr. Griffin points out, since both parents have relatively the same level of literacy, synlexia will have no noticeable effects. But if a hyperlexic parent is copied, then the child could inherit the same literacy level as that parent. The effect is more egregious if the hyperlexic is multilingual, as the child can also copy the languages the hyperlexic has learned! On the flipside, if the child copies a dyslexic parent, then they will exhibit the same learning problems as a person with true dyslexia! Luckily, this literary abnormality is rare. Can you imagine if Lisa knew about this abnormality? She might try to crossbreed humans to form a hyperlexic master race! Which is good, because illiteracy would be wiped out, but it's also highly unethical (not that Lisa would care about the ramifications of such), as this is akin to DNA editing! In real life, scientists already have made "designer babies", that a person can edit by changing their DNA to get a desired trait, so is what Lisa would do any different?
Also, for those that care, the Latin used in Dr. Griffin's demonstration translates to "You are the best thing that ever happened to me, my daughter" and "I love you so much, father."
I forgot to mention that Lola experienced a slight variation of symptoms during her second pregnancy. You all know how Lola is addicted to sweets? Well, she managed to experience weird food cravings this time and had developed an addiction to salty foods. Once, Leif drank a glass of water that Lola made for herself and he commented that it tasted saltier than the Dead Sea! Luckily, this only lasted a month.
It never comes up in the story, but if Leif is actually mad at Alexa, he will refer to her by a variant of her name. Common examples are Alex, Alexis, Lexis, Lexie or Lexi. If he's really mad at her, he will use Alec, Lec, Alexandra or the worst one, Lex. However, it's incredibly rare for Leif to be mad at Alexa, as she's a good kid.
