So instead, I challenged myself more than I ever had, and suddenly I saw the "simpler" skills that I had struggled with like handwriting, grammar and spelling dramatically improve without the use of medication. My time on Adderol seamed to set good habits that I could follow after it was out of my system. My experience made me realize how, "brains have to be built up through exercises of increased difficulty that strengthen brain functioning." (Doidge 41). .
In addition to taking on a heavier academic course load, I also became more involved in sports and started to play lacrosse goalie on my school team. This was an unexpected position for someone who struggles with attentional and processing speed issues, being that it demands a tremendous amount of focus. Being a lacrosse goalie gave me an opportunity to practice employing extreme concentration in a fun way and really helped me flourish. My eventual and unexpected success as a lacrosse goal could be explained by Dr. Merzenich research. His ingenious research included discovering not only that the brain was topographic, but that plasticity went way beyond critical periods and may exist, "from the cradle to the grave"(Doidge 46). Dr.Merzenich's plasticity-based computer games, "Fast Forward" had the ability to change the structure of peoples' brains within just 30 sessions - even in cases where people have had a lifetime of cognitive difficulties. These computer games were geared towards improving verbal comprehension, but participants experienced a number of "spillover effects" and their visual components of IQ went up. Merzenich's results demonstrated that "You cannot have plasticity in isolation - an absolute impossibility. (and Doidge continues)."if one brain system changes, those systems connected to it change as well." (Doidge 60) I genuinely believe that during my sophomore year of high school, when I had taken up lacrosse and other focus demanding tasks, my threshold for attention expanded along with my general mental ability.