ADHD 12 yr old daughter | ADHD Information

I need help.  My daughter has been diagnosed with ADHD when she was 7yrs old.  She will be 13 yrs old in a few months.  She still has tantrums like a small child.  She has a difficult time making and keeping friends.  She refuses to do chores even with a reward system.  She wakes up grouchy almost every morning.  She picks fights with her siblings before and after school.  She is impulsive, uncooperative, aggressive, argumentive, and defiant. She was on ritalin.  But this medication wasn't really help her sociall or emotionally.  It helped her stay on task with school assignments.   Anyways I am trying a medication called Concerta with her. It's her second week.  She has problems falling asleep at night.  She doesn't want to take the Risperadol in the evening because it makes her too groggy and sluggish in the morning.  She is very intelligent.  The only time I can get her to listen is when I get mad.  She won't listen to rational reasoning.  She has a difficult time calming down when she is upset.  She still cries loudly like a younger child would.  I am at a loss of what to do to help her.  This is her second week of taking the Concerta medication.  This week her moods are up and down.  I have been giving her the medication about an hour before she gets up. I read another posting here. Someone else does that.  So I thought I would try it. The Risperdal is to help her sleep and for her aggressiveness.  I started giving her that at 6:00 PM.  So this seems to be working. So it seems to be getting better in the last 48 hours.  With a little bits of disagreements. The Concerta is suppose to stay in her system for a little longer then 12 hours. So I am keeping my fingers crossed.  She has actually been doing chores too.  So it seems to be improving.good for you! Yup we do that give meds before she gets up thing, it does help, the only bad part is if it affects their appetite then they won't eat breakfast. What dose of Concerta is she taking? Maybe her dose will need to be tweaked a bit.

Well first off it doesnt really sound like her med regimen is working for her. How is she while on the Concerta? Is she able to stay on task and be less frusrted, more cooperative and less impulseive? If not then it isnt working. Why the Risperdal? To hlep with mood and sleep?

Adolescents tend to be argumentative and defiant so some of this is typical. Some may be due to lack of sleep.