Day 4: 31 Ways to Make ADHD Medication Less Scary Before Halloween

I’m scared about stunted growth due to ADHD medication

So the folks that try to scare you about ADHD medication will tell you that the medications will cause problems with the growth. They’ll say that the medications stunt growth, but there’s just no evidence of that when you look at the long term studies that have been done. Well over half of the study show no effect on final adult height, even in children who are treated for years with stimulant medication. It’s very reassuring news, that even the studies that do show that a difference in growth, find it to be small and really clinically insignificant.

The way I explain it to parents is like this, the average change in those studies that did find the difference is about a half of an inch or a centimeter. That’s the difference in wearing flip flops and being barefooted, not the difference in wearing boots and being barefooted. So your child is not going to be short because of ADHD medication. We measure growth and check the weight of children at every re-check visit, and this is very important. But the news about the long term use of stimulant medications on growth is very reassuring and not scary.


James Wiley is the founder of FocusMD. Focus is devoted to the diagnosis and treatment of ADHD and related problem patients. They provide objective testing, medical treatment as well as behavior modification strategies to help or patients transform from frustration to focus. To find a FocusMD clinic visit

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