Learning Weird Stuff About Yourself

I just thought I'd share a weird story about myself. OOT'ers are welcome to contribute similar things.

A little background first. I've always been one of the smartest people in my age. I learned to read early, learned math really early, and just have a pretty interconnected way of thinking. I've been in highly advanced classes since 1st grade.

Fast foward to now. About to finish high school, still in advanced classes, still near the top of the school, still feel smarter than every other dumb teenager.

But it turns out, I wasn't always like this. In fact, I didn't speak until I was about 3. I would say words, but never complete sentences. Obviously concerned, my parents took me to be examined by a doctor. They thought I was mentally retarded. Not just learning disabled; really mentally retarded. Apparently, the doctor asked to talk to me alone. My parents said he came out about half an hour later, and said "There's nothing wrong with him; he's just shy." Then I started talking, and had actually already taught myself to read, and my parents didn't even know it! I was shocked to learn this. If they hadn't taken me to that doctor, would I have been put in "special" classes? Would I have become just a complete loner who never speaks? It really kind of freaked me out to know that I could have been pretty much the exact opposite person I am now had my parents not taken me to that doctor.