ADHD Medication Explained
ADHD Medication ExplainedThe Computer Analogy Every Parent and Teacher Understands
Why medication helps — and why it never does the learning for your child. A one-page guide you’ll want to share with every teacher in your child’s life.
Parents ask me every week: “If the medication is working, why is my child still struggling at school?”
Teachers ask a version of the same question: “The behaviour is so much better — so why haven’t the grades improved?”
The answer lies in understanding what medication actually does inside your child’s brain. And the simplest way I’ve found to explain it — after twenty-five years — is with a computer.
Your Child’s Brain Is a Powerful New Computer
💻 Think M4 MacBook Pro
Your child’s brain is not broken. It’s not slow. It’s not faulty. It’s more like a brand-new M4 MacBook Pro — incredibly fast, capable, and powerful.
But here’s the problem. The hardware is excellent. The processor is brilliant. The potential is enormous. Yet the computer keeps freezing, lagging, dropping tasks, and struggling to run more than one programme at a time.
Why? Not because the computer is defective. Because the connections are unstable, the RAM fills up too quickly, and the system can’t manage everything it’s being asked to do at once.
That’s ADHD. Brilliant hardware. Struggling infrastructure.
The ADHD Computer: What’s Going Wrong
What ADHD Medication Actually Does
Medication doesn’t replace the computer. It doesn’t add intelligence. It doesn’t upload knowledge. It doesn’t press the keys for your child.
Medication upgrades the infrastructure.
Medication helps the brain stay online, connected, and available. It doesn’t do the work. It makes the work possible.
What Medication Does — and Doesn’t — Do
This is the part that causes the most confusion and disappointment for parents and teachers alike.
✓ Medication DOES
- Improve sustained attention and focus
- Strengthen the brain’s braking system
- Reduce impulsive reactions
- Help the child sit longer and stay on task
- Increase work completion by up to 37%
- Reduce classroom rule violations by 53%
- Help instructions stay in working memory
- Create the conditions for learning
✗ Medication DOES NOT
- Teach reading, writing, or maths
- Fix dyslexia or learning disabilities
- Fill gaps from missed years of instruction
- Build study skills automatically
- Create motivation for boring tasks
- Replace teaching, tutoring, or parenting
- Treat anxiety, depression, or autism
- Do the work for the child
The “Someone Still Has to Type” Rule
This is the analogy I want every teacher and parent to take away.
What Medication Does
Turns on the computer
Upgrades the Wi-Fi
Expands the RAM
Installs a pop-up blocker
Speeds up the processor
Reduces freezing and lag
What Still Needs to Happen
The child still has to type
A teacher still has to teach
A parent still has to support
The right programmes need installing
Remedial help fills knowledge gaps
Practice builds the skills
A computer — no matter how powerful, no matter how fast — doesn’t learn on its own. Someone has to sit down and do the work. Medication makes that work possible. It doesn’t make it unnecessary.
This is why a child on medication may behave brilliantly in class, complete more work, cause fewer disruptions — yet still not improve their grades. Productivity is not the same as learning. Completing a worksheet is not the same as understanding the content.
Why Medication Seems to “Not Work”
The Background Apps Draining Your Child’s Battery
Every parent has experienced a computer running slowly — not because it’s broken, but because too many apps are running in the background, eating up processing power and draining the battery.
This is exactly what happens when ADHD exists alongside other conditions. And it happens in roughly 80% of children with ADHD.
🔋 Background Apps Still Running
Medication upgrades the system — but these apps keep draining resources in the background:
ADHD medication only upgrades the operating system. It doesn’t close these background apps. Each one needs to be identified and dealt with separately. If they’re not, the system still struggles — it just struggles faster.
Undiagnosed background apps. If your child has been on medication for months and is still struggling, don’t blame the medication. Ask: what else is running in the background that nobody has identified?
When the Whole System Works Together
Medication produces the most dramatic, life-changing results when it lands on the right support. Here’s the full system:
- Right medication, right dose, right timing — the operating system upgrade is properly installed
- Background apps identified and managed — anxiety treated, learning disabilities supported, sleep sorted
- Clear teaching and remedial support — someone is actively teaching through the window medication has opened
- Appropriate school accommodations — the environment is set up so the computer can run properly
- Predictable routines at home — consistent structure reduces system overload
- Emotional understanding, not punishment — the user isn’t being blamed for the system’s limitations
- The child understands their own brain — they know how their computer works and what helps it run best
That’s when the computer doesn’t just turn on — it finally starts running properly.
A Note for Teachers
You’ve noticed the difference since this child started medication. They’re calmer. They’re completing work. They’re not disrupting the class every five minutes. That’s real, and it matters.
But if you’re wondering why the academic improvement isn’t matching the behavioural improvement, now you understand why. The computer is finally online — but the child may have years of missed learning to catch up on. The programmes were never installed because the system kept crashing before they could load.
What this child needs from you now — while the medication is keeping their system stable — is active, targeted teaching. Remedial input. Repetition without frustration. Patience with the gaps. Because this is the window. The medication has opened it. What you do during this window determines whether this child catches up.
Medication gives you a child who can learn. What you teach during that window is what they’ll actually learn. Don’t waste the window expecting it to do the teaching for you.
Quick Win Tonight
Three things you can do right now:
- Share this article with your child’s teacher. Understanding what medication does and doesn’t do changes the conversation from “why aren’t the grades improving?” to “how do we use this window effectively?”
- List the background apps. Write down any signs of anxiety, low mood, learning difficulties, sleep problems, or social struggles that medication hasn’t touched. Bring this list to your next appointment.
- Ask the right question. Instead of asking “Is the medication working?” ask “What is medication making possible — and what else does my child need to make use of that possibility?”
🖥️ Remember This
Your child doesn’t need a new brain. Their computer is powerful, capable, and full of potential.
They need better connectivity. They need the right support. And they need people who understand how their system works — not people who blame the user for the system’s limitations.
ADHD medication is the infrastructure upgrade. It’s powerful. It’s evidence-based. For most children, it’s transformational.
But it’s the foundation, not the building. It opens the door. Education, support, and understanding help the child walk through it.
When the whole system works together — medication, teaching, support, understanding — that’s when this brilliant computer finally runs the way it was always capable of running.
Responses