Hi heather, I just wanted to say welocme to the board! Iknow a few parents on this board whose children are either on or have tried risperdal. perhaps they'll be along to give you there input. you can also check out the "newbie" post on the main page, there are biomedical articles posted there. I'm sure risperdal information is included.
I have seen positive benefits from risperidal. It sounds a lot scarier that it is. It's considered an anti-psychotic in Large doses and works for anxiety in smaller doses. I know the two children I watch with autism and aspbergers take it and it has done wonders :) Increased social, verbal and decreased aggression/need for hard impact and sensory issues. I can now watch these 2 kids plus my own ds who has pdd... lol, it is *busy* but at least now it's safe to do so :)
I'm pro-meds though (I will freely admit my bias for you). I don't want to medicate anyone *but* want to provide children with all the opportuniites to fit in, learn and meet thier potential. If that means meds (with behaviour mod as well of course) then so be it.
If you are uncomfortable with the risperidal... why not ask what the dr is targeting with the meds. Maybe there is another alternative you woudl be more comfortable with... like an adhd med or an anti-anxiety med?
Or if it is specific behaviours, and you do not want to medicate, hire someone to do a behaviour modification plan that you could implement after parent training. Or find out if you can get a gov't program that will train you as well as doing ABA.
Hi to all,
We just got back form the dr and it has been confirmed that Tristan has moderate PDD. The question I have is that the dr wants Tristan to take .5 mg of riperdal in the morning and at night. Is this safe? Everything that I have read says that a child should not take this drug. If there any answers please reply
Heather
I don't know, but here's a little odd information I found out about Risperdal..
Hope some of it is something you can use.
http://www.crazymeds.org/risperdal.html
http://www.risperdalsideeffects.com/pages/children.html
http://www.biologicalunhappiness.com/RisprKid.htm
http://www.epinions.com/content_3733954692
To my knowledge, drug companies can't honestly tell you that a med. is safe for kids, like that, because it's unethical to actually test them on children.
But hopefully with the different stuff available, parents can make a safe decision re: meds.