Story highlights Kevin O'Leary first realized he had trouble reading at age 6

His mother enrolled him in a specialized program at the Montreal Children's Hospital

Other famous dyslexics include Andy Warhol, Leonardo da Vinci and Richard Branson

Kevin O'Leary is a successful business entrepreneur and star of the ABC TV show "Shark Tank". The opinions in this article are solely based on the author.

(CNN) I was around age 6 when a troublesome fact began to surface in my life. I wasn't learning how to read along with the other kids, and it became a source of incredible frustration for my mother and my teachers.

It was horrifying to be singled out in class. That white-hot shame of feeling slow left me paralyzed. I was always good with numbers, but the ability to read rows of letters and to turn them into words, completely eluded me.

There wasn't a word for dyslexia back then, but small pockets of expertise around this kind of learning disability were starting to pop up in academic communities.

My mother, Georgette, discovered one of the best of these communities and dragged me to the 12th floor of the Montreal Children's Hospital. Bad enough I had a hard time reading; having to go to a hospital to fix it was mortifying. That feeling disappeared at the sight of the bright blue trampoline in a room off the lobby.

Kevin O'Leary on his first day of school.

In the burgeoning field of special education, this was a pioneering program led by Dr. Sam Rabinovitch and Dr. Margie Golick. It treated the whole child—body, mind, and soul. Part of my weekly treatment involved jumping up and down on a trampoline so doctors could study my hand-eye coordination, balance and how both sides of my body worked together. It was ridiculous and, being a hyperactive child, it was a genius approach to teaching a kid like me.

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