WeAreAutism.org - The Social Support Network for People Living with Autism

 Giving autistic children psychiatric medications is a not uncontroversial topic; giving children—young children—such medications is equally controversial. The December issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatryhas issued guidelines for the use of psychiatric medication in preschoolers. The guidelines were issued by the Preschool Psychopharmacology Working Group which (as noted in the December 4thScience Daily) includes “clinicians and researchers in early childhood psychiatric disorders, psychopharmacology, general and behavioral pediatrics, neurodevelopmental processes, and clinical psychology.” The guidelines were created to address the phenomenon of more and more preschool-aged children taking stimulants, antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs. Under...

 A study in the March 2008 volume of Pediatrics on psychotropic medication use among Medicaid-enrolled children with autism spectrum disorders noted that there is “ongoing debate” about the uses of psychotropic medications. Only Risperidone, an atypical neuroleptic, has received FDA approval to treat autistic children for aggression and irritability. The AAP study also noted that “medication use is common among children with ASDs and seems to be increasing.” The study sample included 60,641 children under the age of 21 with an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis or an Asperger syndrome diagnosis. Most of the children in the study were 6-11 years old (45%); most were male (78%) and white (50%);...

 Risperdal has won FDA approval to treat “symptoms of autism” in children, as reported on Friday, October 6th, in Reuters and in many other media outlets. Risperdal, which is manufactured by Johnson & Johnson, can now be used to treat aggression, “irritability,” and “deliberate self-injury.” FDA approval was based on two eight-week studies in which 156 autistic individuals (aged 5 - 16; 90% of those in the study were aged 5 - 12) took either the medication or a placebo. Johnson & Johnson said Risperdal does not treat core autism symptoms such as communication problems and trouble with social interactions, but “it has been...