My son is 8. Started on concerta 18mg. when he was 6. Woked great. He had all the common side effects. It was like 1 day it stopped working. He weighed 53 at the beginng of taking meds., wieghed 61 at the start of 27mg.. Lost wieght back down to 51 and the 27mg. made him like a zombie. He was very emotional. He wouldn't even go play outside much less any where. I had him dropped down to 18mg. did great. After some much needed wieght gain, he his back up to 27mg. and doing great. I absolutly love concerta over all the other med. he has tried.

I am very grateful for these message boards.

My son is 7 1/2.  I have been hearing about his ADHD type symptoms for about 2 years now, but didn't believe that he was truly ADHD.  I was under the impression that these symptoms were required being present at a very early age.  He was a WONDERFUL toddler and preschooler.  Calm, focused, would occupy himself for hours, very appropriate.  Then all of a sudden, it seemed we had impulsivity, difficulty settling down, calling out answers, interrupting others, fidgeting, etc.

I finally had the eval and he was diagnosed....and like I heard with so many others here..... he too was "borderline".  I think this means that in terms of the continum of severity of symptomology, he was at the low end.

Anyway, started 18mg of Concerta this week.  All I can say is WOW!  Night and day.  The first couple days he was more "dazed".  We are seeing that diminish as the week goes on.  The appetite loss is lessening as well.  BUT the new one is this emotionality.  I saw it yeserday for the first time (day 5 of the med use).  I was asking him why he did something and he LOST it.  I mean loud, hysterical crying.  I tried to explain to him that he was reacting this way in part due to the medication.  I am going to ask the school to keep an eye on this as well.  Like the other side effects, I am hoping this too will level out.

Aside from that, he is more positive about school, his interactions with his little sister (she is 2) are much better (he seems to be able to be more tolerant with her).  I am very pleased so far.

And to the lady above,  He was diagnosed with an Expressive Language Delay when he was 3.   He attended speech and compensated coming out age appropriate on his re-eval at age 5.  But recently, I was seeing this coming out again more and more.   I am curious to see if it improves now with the meds.

 Our son started 18mgs of concerta 1 month ago and i will tell you the first two weeks  was rough. He had alot of emotional outbreaks, hard time sleeping and decreased appetite, but by the third week most of the side affects was gone , and in our son's case we dont put him on med's on the  weekends and the doctor suggested to take him off during the summer as well, but my son is not aggressive and has capd along with adhd so pretty much the meds are helping alot in school for his focus, attention and he his able to sit in his desk without fidgeting constantly. Our son weighs 73lbs and being on 18mgs of concerta is helping him get by in school, the pedriation wanted to put his dosage to 36mg cause of his weight but like the doctor said if he is able to get by on the least dosage might as well keep him going on 18mg (excellant doctor).

If most of the side affects didnt wear off by the third week i would consult the doctor. Hope everything goes well, and goodluck.

Regarding speech problems and ADD, I didn't realize there was a possible connection.  I'd love to hear more.  My son is 8 years old.  He was on ritalin for a year, huge difference in his school work, but too many side effects.  He has now been on concerta 36 mg for most of this school year, and what a change, it's great, and very few side effects.  And it lasts just long enough to get homework done, and then he sleeps without effort. 

His speech is quite delayed.  I really never assosiated the two.  I thought it was just because of a few ear infections when he was younger.  He is at times incomprehensible.  Is this something others have found?