The short-acting would be a tough schedule to keep up with, but people do it. The doc may be thinking that your son won’t be able to keep up with a med schedule like that when he’s old enough to self-administer. He’d have to remember to take medicine 2-3 times a day, on a particular schedule.
Did the doc try increasing the dose on Concerta or Ritalin LA. The effective dose isn’t “transferrable” from short-acting to long-acting. With short-acting, you’re getting a dump of all the medicine at once, full strength. With the long-acting, the medication is time-releasing and doesn’t offer the spike that short-acting does. So, it stands to reason that one may need a higher dose in a long-acting med.
A Patient’s Primer on the Stimulant Medications Used to Treat ADHD
Penny
ADDitude Community Moderator, Parenting ADHD Trainer & Author, Mom to teen w/ ADHD, LDs, and autism