Part 2: Treatment Options – What Really Works for ADHD?
Welcome Back
Welcome to the second part of our video series on coping with ADHD.
If you’ve reached the stage where you’ve accepted the diagnosis—whether it’s for your child or yourself—you might be asking,
“So what now? What are the treatment options?”
We’ll cover these in more depth in later videos, but right now I want to place treatment in the bigger picture—as part of the journey of understanding and supporting your child.
There’s No One-Size-Fits-All
Let’s start with this key idea:
There’s no single solution for ADHD.
Most children will benefit from a combination of strategies:
- Medication
- Psychological support
- Educational interventions
- Parent and family coaching
- And more…
In fact, only a small number of children do well on medication alone.
So if you’re hoping for a “magic pill,” I’d gently encourage you to think more broadly.
Becoming Your Child’s ADHD Expert
As a parent, you’ll become your child’s greatest advocate—and likely their personal ADHD expert!
This means learning what works best for your child, in different environments and at different ages.
Think of it like building a toolbox. You’ll need a range of tools to support your child across:
- School
- Home life
- Social settings
- Emotional regulation
- Learning challenges
Medication Is Just One Part of the Puzzle
Medication can be incredibly helpful—but it’s not a cure-all.
Some children don’t respond well to it. Others show improvement, but still struggle with:
- Behavioural challenges
- Peer relationships
- Learning issues
- Emotional ups and downs
Even when medication helps during school hours, it usually doesn’t cover evenings or early mornings, when it’s not active in the system. So you’ll need other support strategies for those times.
ADHD Rarely Comes Alone
Children with ADHD often face more than just attention difficulties.
They may also have:
- Learning disabilities (e.g. reading, writing, maths)
- Anxiety or emotional regulation issues
- Social skill difficulties
- Oppositional behaviour or sibling/family conflict
None of these go away with medication alone.
They need targeted, often non-medical support—like therapy, skills training, or learning support.
A Holistic, Multi-Treatment Approach Works Best
Research consistently shows that the most effective treatment involves multiple interventions working together.
The biggest and most well-respected study in the world—the Multimodal Treatment Study of ADHD (MTA trial)—followed over 570 children with ADHD.
Here’s what they found:
- Medication alone was helpful
- But the best outcomes happened when medication was combined with psychological and educational support
So while medication is often a cornerstone of treatment, the real progress comes when we take a broader view and treat the whole child—not just the symptoms.
Let’s Be Realistic—and Hopeful
In the next video, we’ll talk about what a realistic outlook looks like for children with ADHD.
We’ll explore what progress can look like, what expectations are fair, and how to measure success in ways that go beyond just school marks or behaviour charts.
