When I was in preschool I remember being different and having to go to a different school. I went to a school for people that are behind the average preschoolers level. As a little kid I remember my parents telling me the reason I was at this unique preschool. They told me that I had had a stroke before I was born. When I was in the womb with my twin, I had a stroke. They had found out when I was born. They found that the stroke had caused me to learn slower and my brain would develop differently. I graduated from preschool when I was 5, and they found out I was okay to go to kindergarten.

On the first day of kindergarten, I remember going to the school and feeling different. I had no friends and didn’t know how to make any friends. I would have to be pulled out of our class and be sent to a teacher that would teach me things in different ways. I also remember learning things with my dad at home, so that I can be at the same level with the rest of the kids in my grade. I would be taken out of class once a week so that I can learn. I learned differently than all of the other kids, but that didn’t make me worse as a student. I finally made some friends after months of kindergarten. I learned about how to make friends and how to be social. Even though I was in kindergarten, my stroke still affected me. I had trouble with social skills, and I would have to get better at that. I had improved a lot in kindergarten and learned how to read by the end of it. In first grade, I was put into something called enrichment for the people who are good at math or reading. I started to see a change; where I used to be terrible at school and now I am in advanced classes. I would still have to be sent to a special class to learn differently once a month. In first grade, I stopped going to special classes. In first grade, I was starting to make new friends and get social. I would learn how to be outgoing and talk to people a lot. I was putting my stroke behind and not letting it affect me any longer. I didn’t have many lasting effects from the stroke, and I left it completely behind me. From 2-4th grade, I made new friends and became more interactive with the world around me. When 5th grade happened, online learning hit, and I didn’t have many friends. I would feel lonely during online learning and didn’t have many people to play with. When I went back to school in 6th grade, I felt awkward. It was hard to talk to many people. I couldn’t talk to people normally, and I didn’t mature over online learning. I eventually got past that and became the person I am today. Today ,I realize how I got past my stroke and how I don’t let it affect me. Sometimes I look back and realize what having a stroke taught me. You may be behind everyone else and not being good at something, but this does not mean that you can’t catch up. You can always catch up to other people. It is never too late to follow your dreams.

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