Risperidone? Helpful or not? if so, how so?

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I just started my 3 year old on Risperidone, but since he can't talk much I don't know what effect to expect... He's a little hyper as pie boy, and some times, he's a little aggressive with siblings,he will push and be "mean" for no reason to kids, and pets... what does this medication do after all and what's your experience with it? thanks in advance!

that's completely messed up. Who told you to do that? Find a new doctor and get your child off that drug immediately.

seems like a pretty heavy drug for a 3 year old

it's in the family of drugs known as major tranquilizers, neuroleptics, or antipsychotics.

Antipsychotic medications like Risperidone have severe, invasive, permanent side effects on the body and brain development and should only be used for extreme cases, such as to pacify a dangerous, psychotic adult person. It is madness to give antipsychotics to a 3 year old who is in his early stages of development, and I have no idea what your doctor was thinking. You should get the kid off it immediately.

Really? I will try a different doctor for sure. I'm glad i asked! So, he told me a lot of kids and adults with autism use it... I'm guessing he exagerated big time then?

I concur. I read this and my first thought was criminal overmedication. This is an antipsychotic drug that should not be used in young children, at all, ever. It also has serious side effects and a really nasty withdrawal syndrome. There might be a case for using it for someone who is violent, if they are a lot older, but not a kid who is a bit pushy and slightly hyper.

If the kid is having tantrums - the kid is three years old. It happens.

If the kid is having meltdowns the solution is a low-stimulation environment in order to avoid autistic hyperstimulation, not drugs and ABA. He should be taken off the drug as promptly as possible to avoid that withdrawal syndrome. You just do not put a kid through that!

Time to get another doctor.

I just started 2 days ago, I was very reluctant, but I thought it would help my son. I've got 3 kids, 2 on the spectrum. This one has aspergers, he's as happy as they come, but I can sense that he has mental confusion sometimes, and i though the medication would make him think more clearly. I'll stop now, and follower the advice above and work on making my home a less stimulating environment (hard with 2 more siblings!). He does lets os ABA already. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to let me know... any more advice is welcome.

btw he does just fine in structured environments, he goes to school with a shadow, but at home he is very destructive, bangs head and everything...

Please stop the medication on the small child...

Risperdone is used, in cases of asperger's and autism to aid in the perception of emotion. Risperdone, befor puberty can cause him to grow breasts, effect the pituitary gland and the like... That being said, your child is young enough that the BEST treatment is teaching social skills... We can be taught the things that NTs take for granted.

By my understanding, Respiridone is used for treating "irritability" in autism, including AS.

By this, they appear to mean meltdowns. Meltdowns, as any Aspie will tell you, are caused by a mix of overstimulation (mainly) and other stressors.

It has not been found to improve social skills or conversational ability in trials.

Under such circumstances, you seem to have two main choices.
1) Understand that the kid sees the world more intensely than an allistic, allow for that, and stop traumatising the poor kid (remembering that an aspie is more easily stressed by stimulation-intense environments, and often has superior long-term memory: it is not unusual for adult aspie memories to go back to the age of two, or even earlier).

2) Keep traumatising the poor kid, and dope him up on drugs to keep him calm while he gets fat (weight gain is common in the use of all antipsychotics) and has his pituitary gland wrecked.

Hint: one of these might be considered medically sanctioned child abuse.

The manufacturer of this drug has been repeatedly sued for non-disclosure of side effects, including for around US$1.2 billion (sic) in Arkansas.

Guys... just understand that I'm not a lazy mom that is doping my children. I tried this med bcd i was convinced it would help him think more clearly, stop banging his head, attacking ppl and animals, things like that. I was VERY reluctant, but I heard other parents were doing it too, so I though he deserved to have the chance of trying it. Having said that, you all convinced me that is madness to keep going with this medication... That's why I came to this website, because I have great respect for the opinion of people like you, that actually understand ASD. As a mom i want the best for them, and I love them just the way they are. I am not trying to change them, I just want them to not have so much anxiety.

I have been using video modeling, social stories, ABA - intensively, and any other tips are welcome...

Since we are on the subject, since I have 2 kids on the spectrum. Would you suggest SUPPLEMENTS or SPECIAL DIET? I know this is a very extensive topic, but any quick advice would be helpful.

Thanks again! You have no idea how much you are able to help through this community.

We understand that. BUT... my points stand...

You are asking very broad questions that none of us are really qualified to answer...

My series "Care and Feeding of Your Aspie" covers some of this and can be found here LINK

Hey.

My understanding is that social stories can be marginally useful in helping autistics to learn to adapt to your society. I doubt you will find much opposition to those around here, although there are some important philosophical questions, well outside the reach of this thread. They probably don't do much good (good evidence either way is lacking), but they probably won't do any harm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Stories

ABA is another matter. This (like just about anything else linked to the mainstream parents' groups like Autism $peaks (opinions of which you will find on this site expressed mainly in four-letter vernacular)) is not popular among autistic advocate groups, for a range of reasons. If the currently ascendant theory on autism (Intense World Theory) is correct, it many be counterproductive. There is a strong argument for considering it deeply unethical. This may be useful: http://www.sentex.net/~nexus23/naa_aba.html ABA is widely opposed by autism rights advocates.

Your child's differences are caused by neurological variation in his brain. There is precisely no scientific evidence for the efficacy of use of either supplements or special diets. These are, frankly, snake oil. I'm sure there are plenty of parents out there who will tell you that they tried X diet and the child "improved", but that "logic" is what got us the vaccine bollocks and the public health menace that has become.