You probably know all too well how the core symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)—inattention, impulsivity, hyperactivity¹—can cause dysfunction in all areas of a child's life.

The primary goal of treatment of school-age children with ADHD should be to improve their day-to-day functioning. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), desired treatment results (outcomes) that parents should look for include:

• Improvements in a child's relationships with parents, siblings, teachers and peers
• Decreased disruptive behaviors
• Improved academic performance, particularly in volume of work, efficiency, completion and accuracy
• Increased independence in a child's self-care or homework
• Improved self-esteem

Unfortunately, when a child doesn't adequately respond to an ADHD treatment or continues to have problems, too often the ADHD treatment is simply stopped without an alternative ADHD treatment to take its place.

Fortunately, there are medications like ADDERALL XR that have been demonstrated in clinical studies to provide significant improvement in childhood symptoms of ADHD.⁶