Ahh, Debbie Phelps is brilliant, a middle school teacher for more than decades, now principal, who when Michael at the age of 9 was diagnosed with ADHD didn't give up but found ways to keep him focused.
After Michael kept grabbing a classmate’s paper, Debbie suggested that he be seated at his own table. When he moaned about how much he hated reading, she started handing him the sports section of the paper or books about sports. Noticing that Michael’s attention strayed during math, she hired a tutor and encouraged him to use word problems tailored to Michael’s interests: “How long would it take to swim 500 meters if you swim three meters per second?”