My 8 year old son takes 30mg A.M. and 10mg at 12 PM. He has ADHD that seriously hampered his learning. Before we decided to put him on this medication he was failing 1st grade and had to be put on an IEP (Individialived Evaluation Plan) where they found he had a learning disablity due to behavior and attention problems. Now he is performing at above grade average and is no longer considered to have a learning disability. I do not want to be a cheerleading mother for this drug, I myself wonder everyday if I am doing the right thing for my son long term. But the short term does not lie and he could definitely not have the success he is having without the medication. He tells me this as well. He knows when the medicine wears off, which is about 4:30pm. So far he is confident in his ability to control himself at school to learn, and is working on peer relations. My son could not tolerate concerta or adderall. They made him mean and aggressive. So I guess as far as it goes, which is for the last 2 years, this medication works very well in treating my sons ADHD. Published: October 08, 2007 ::

My four year old son was getting in trouble EVERY day at pre-school/day care. He was hitting, pinching, spitting, not minding, disrupting class, etc. After several sessions with a counselor, we decided that medication was necessary. He started on Focalin XR in December and has shown great improvement. He is on 5mg, once a day. As for side effects, he lost one pound the first month, but gained two the second. He has no trouble going to sleep, or any other side effects. However, we are now into month 3 and I truly believe we need to up the dosage. The last couple of days he has had had outbreaks of bad behavior, not at school, but at home. He is rebellious, sassy, and sometimes mean. The Focalin is supposed to be an 8-10 hour relief, but when it wears off, we all know it. Sometimes, it happens after he has had the meds, but these "fits" usually only last about 10 minutes and then he is fine. Has anyone else had this problem? Published: February 20, 2008 ::

My son started out on the Focalin XR. It was nice because we could open the capsule and sprinle the beads on applesauce because he cant swallow a pill. The exteneded release however lasted too long for my son and it was keepin him up half the night. We have switched him to the short acting Focalin which he takes twice a day and it is working much better for us. Published: September 21, 2007 ::

My 8 yr old son started taking this medication about 3 weeks ago. He is doing great on it. We decided to switch him from Strattera because of his not eating. He is a very small 8 yr old, about 45 pounds. Since switching to Focalin XR, I can't seem to keep enough food in the house. Very excited about this drug not giving him the side effects that all the others had. This med also does not seem to cause the sleepiness that the others do. He has put on about 5 pounds since starting this med. Hopefully it will continue to work. Also not having the problems with aggression like the other meds seem to give him. Published: February 04, 2008 ::

I have a 7 year old boy with ADHD who I contemplated on putting on meds. ( Being that I have ADD and was on Ritalin when I was in school.... hated it, by the way!) Anyway, he's only been on Focalin XR extended release 5 mgs for three days, but his teacher and I have seen a dramatic changes in his behavior, schoolwork and overall demeanor. I know that it's early, But... his sleeping has also changed. He's much better! I don't think I will keep him on it because of the risk of dependency, but at least to get him through the early school years hopefully will be good enough. Good Luck. Published: May 22, 2008 ::

Our daughter is almost 7, she started taking focalin xr in November. Started with 5mg now on 10mg. Is doing much better, not acting up in class as much, when she gets upset , she is much easier to calm down. Is much more focused on things she is doing, She can not swollow the pills, so we open them and sprinkle over a spoon full of chocolate pudding. At first we even had a problem getting her to take that, but I made a game out of it, I bet her she couldn't take it before I counted to 10, it was gone before i even got to 2, quick drink of water after and we are good to go. It was causing some appitate loss, so we give it to her after she eats breakfest, works great. Good Luck Published: January 27, 2008 ::

My 6 year old daughter started taking this 1 year ago and her school activity has been 100% better. Published: October 14, 2007 ::