The Many Faces of ADHD: Michael Phelps, Olympic Gold Medalist

by Eileen Bailey
Source: http://www.healthcentral.com

Michael Phelps was born June 30, 1985 in Baltimore MD. He enjoys football, music and video games. He became a professional swimmer at the age of 16. Michael was also the younger male world record holder in modern history. In he 2007 FINA World Championships he won seven gold medals and shattered five world records. At the Olympics in Beijing, he is hoping to break Mark Spitz's record and win eight gold medals. (In the 2004 Olympics, he won eight medals: 6 Gold and 2 Bronze).

Michael Phelps has ADHD. He was diagnosed at the age of 9 years old. Michael's mother, in an interview for WJZ in Baltimore MD., discussed his diagnosis and some of the difficulties he has overcome in his life. Michael was hyperactive as a child, according to his mother he "never sat still, never closed his mouth, was always asking questions, always jumping from one thing to another."

Although he started medication and behavior modification, he stopped medication by age 11 and instead ADHD symptoms were managed through tightly managing his time and swimming. According to his mother, swimming helped because, "it's very regimented. There's time management build into that component, there's set things you do sequentially."

A blog on ADDerWorld.com pinpoints one of the reasons Michael Phelps is a winner is because of his ability to hyperfocus. He is often described as having a laser-like focus when swimming and has a level of concentration not often seen. Michael has the physical characteristics to make swimming the perfect sport, he has the training and the family support. He also has the mental focus that allows him to rise levels above other swimmers and break world records.

As of the writing of this Share Post, Michael Phelps has won two gold medals in the Beijing Olympics, one for the Men's 400m Individual Medley and one for the 4 x 100 Freestyle Relay.

Autism Breakthrough: Girl's Writings Explain Her Behavior and Feelings

By JOHN MCKENZIE
Feb. 19, 2008

Carly Fleischmann has severe autism and is unable to speak a word. But thanks to years of expensive and intensive therapy, this 13-year-old has made a remarkable breakthrough.

Two years ago, working with pictures and symbols on a computer keyboard, she started typing and spelling out words. The computer became her voice.

"All of a sudden these words started to pour out of her, and it was an exciting moment because we didn't realize she had all these words," said speech pathologist Barbara Nash. "It was one of those moments in my career that I'll never forget."

Then Carly began opening up, describing what it was like to have autism and why she makes odd noises or why she hits herself.

"It feels like my legs are on first and a million ants are crawling up my arms," Carly said through the computer.

Carly writes about her frustrations with her siblings, how she understands their jokes and asks when can she go on a date.

"We were stunned," Carly's father Arthur Fleischmann said. "We realized inside was an articulate, intelligent, emotive person that we had never met. This was unbelievable because it opened up a whole new way of looking at her." This is what Carly wants people to know about autism.

"It is hard to be autistic because no one understands me. People look at me and assume I am dumb because I can't talk or I act differently than them. I think people get scared with things that look or seem different than them." "Laypeople would have assumed she was mentally retarded or cognitively impaired. Even professionals labelled her as moderately to severely cognitively impaired. In the old days you would say mentally retarded, which means low IQ and low promise and low potential," Arthur Fleischman said.

Therapists say the key lesson from Carly's story is for families to never give up and to be ever creative in helping children with autism find their voice.

"If we had done what so many people told us to do years ago, we wouldn't have the child we have today. We would have written her off. We would have assumed the worst. We would have never seen how she could write these things  how articulate she is, how intelligent she is," the grateful father added.

"I asked Carly to come to my work to talk to speech pathologists and other therapists about autism," said Nash. "What would you like to tell them? She wrote, 'I would tell them never to give up on the children that they work with.' That kind of summed it up."

Carly had another message for people who don't understand autism.

"Autism is hard because you want to act one way, but you can't always do that. It's sad that sometimes people don't know that sometimes I can't stop myself and they get mad at me. If I could tell people one thing about autism it would be that I don't want to be this way. But I am, so don't be mad. Be understanding."

**To view the full article + video, CLICK HERE. **

Source: abcNEWS.com (thanks Christina!)