Ralph Mouth sends the link/excerpt:

Winkler has benefited from his difficult youth - Baltimore Sun

Winkler had thought about being a father when he was still a kid. After being berated and belittled by his parents, he would lie in bed at night and think, "I must remember this: never to repeat these people." He hasn't. He and wife Stacey, a child welfare advocate, have three children. Their 22-year-old son Max, a college senior, and 25-year-old daughter Zoe, a teacher, live at the family home in Brentwood, Calif., which says something about their affection for their parents. At 34, Winkler's stepson, Jed, is the manager for singer Morrissey and lives on his own.

It was Jed who led Winkler to understand his learning difficulty. When the child was in third grade, he was found to be dyslexic. Listening to the experts describe Jed's condition, Winkler, then 31, said, "That's me." It was less of a lightbulb moment than one might think. "Everything was illuminated, but nothing was changed," Winkler says. "At least then I knew there was a reason why I was having such difficulties. First you go through a tremendous amount of anger. Because all those arguments, all that disappointment, all that punishment and grounding was for naught."

In retrospect, the struggle wasn't completely worthless. "Dyslexia taught me kindness," he says. "I know what it feels like to be treated like you're not up to snuff."