I disagree, leeneia. My father was a teacher, so he taught me to read using letters written large on cardboard squares - he invented his own Scrabble for the purpose, and we treated it as a game, with no pressure for results, just joy at the achievements. Age four I could read a newspaper, and was enquiring about the meaning of new words every day. I was reading my own kiddies' books (as well as being read to at bedtime, not instead of), and as a result I was reading many more books than the average child. Age 10 I was reading plays for fun - went through Shakespeare, Moliere, the ancient Greek tragedies and comedies before I was 12. I had a library card of my own at 10 and would take out 2-4 books every week.

At school I was not snotty, neither was I bored. There was so much other stuff to learn besides reading - arithmetic, history etc. Sure, I had a richer vocabulary than the average kid, perhaps could express myself better, but no more knowledge for that. Neither did I had the feeling of being special in any way.

Although a scientist, I was always interested in language, and languages. I am sure that was due to my early reading. And perhaps even my songwriting owes something to Dad's cardboard squares with the letters.