It is immediate. Depending on the medication he is on, it is in his system within 20 minutes.

If he was put on Strattera, it could take up to three weeks. If he was placed on a stimulant, then it should be within about 20 minutes. There is a possibility he is on too low of a dose. I would encourage your friend to have the teacher(s) fill out daily progress reports and/or rating scales. Did she fill out a behavior rating scale prior to the medication?

My son was placed on strattera and zyprexa (now risperdal) for ADHD and a mood disorder (now dx as bipolar)..we had some immediate results and some have taken a while to achieve. also, what I think happens in some cases is that children with these sorts of disorders take a bit longer to learn the social and communications skills that their peers learn through regular daily interactions..what i noticed with my son is that once he was medicated, he had a better time concentrating on learning all he needed to, but was still rather immature for his age in all areas.

Well said!!

The medication does help the children concentrate on learning the skills they need to learn. That is the reason why it's so important that some kind of social skills/behavior modification is taking place in addition to meds. If the child is on an IEP, I would definitely recommend including organization and social skills in the IEP if it is an area of need. Some kids do need direct instruction in those areas.

I was on meds in my early 20s and they took inbetween 1 and 15 days. I stopped taking them because I have already learned to adjust my behaviors of ADD with practice and time. That is just my personal experience. Ive tried Strattera and something else...I didnt like either one.