Thanks everyone! My son has a behavioral plan in his IEP at school. He has also seen a neurologist (last year) and we agreed not to medicate him then. Now his aggression has gotten to a point where I cant leave him for a second with his younger brother for fear he may hurt him. If it were just me I would let it ride but I have to think of the family as a whole. This is by far the most difficult decision I have had to make thus far with him. I put in a call to his neuro and still waiting to hear from him. Has anyone heard that a full moon or change in weather can escalate behaviors?
Actually, many kids are VERY sensitive to environmental changes. Also, many ASD kids have allergies and their behaviors escalate at the time of year their allergies kick in. YOu might want to speak to your pediatrician about whether or not your son has allergies and might need a hay fever type of med like Singulair. It is pretty benign and works really well on my son's postnasal drip.
I'd also speak to whomever is in charge of the behavior plan in school to see if anything more can be done at home to help in terms of reinforcements. Risperdal is approved, on label, for use with spectrum kids who are aggressive. It does not cause the "zombie" effect, but that doesn't mean it's without drawbacks. For one thing, it usually causes lots of weight gain. But, of course, chubbiness is much better than violence. My BIG suggestion is to make SURE your son is medicated by a doctor who has lots of experience medicating ASD kids your son's age. It will take at least a couple of months to get to the optimum dosage since it takes about 3 weeks to see if the first (presumably low) dose will work and then another 3 weeks to see if a slightly higher dose will work, etc. It's worth the trouble being patient. Of course, MANY doctors would hestitate to use this (or ANY strong med) on a child so young. YOu must get to a doctor who really knows his stuff.
Hang in there. There are lots of people on this site that completely understand the fear of meds...and the "world" your living in.
My advice would be to go with your gut. Do what your inner voice tells you to. Has your son been to see any professionals? (Dr's/neuropath/dev psych,etc)...
For me, the decision of to use meds was very hard. I had to figure out if my son's behaviors were severe enough to warrent the meds. For us, we tried meds last year. We only felt the need to use them when he was in school. That's where most of his behaviors escalated. However, now he's not on any meds. Mostly becase I feel that his behaviors are not frequent enough to warrent them.
Using meds is a very personal decision. Just do what you feel is best, along with the advice of a good medical team. There are lots of meds out there. You'll have a to try them out to see what works best. But if you have a good Dr and watch for what works and doesn't, you can find the "magic" one that helps alot and you won't have him in a "daze" all the time. They may not stop behaviors ,but they can surely help if you find the right one.
best of luck to you!
kelly
First of all, meds shouldn't put your child in a daze all the time. IF they do, they are the wrong meds or the wrong dosage.
Second, it's imperative that you get professional help in learning how to deal with these behavioral issues at home. The school is supposed to give parent training so that parent learn how to implement the techniques that work at school at home. Parent training is a right, but many district still resist. However, it's worth pursuing.
Also, speak with the speech therapist about ways to increase your child's ability to communicate. Frustration about not being able to interact appropriately is often at the root of behavioral issues.
Once you've implemented a behavior plan and stuck with it for awhile, and you've increased your child's ability to communicate to the greatest extent possible, if your child is still having these issues, get an appointment with a child psychiatrist who specializes in autism. Most meds for behavioral issues are potent and they really need to be administered by an expert. Of course, most experts hesitate to medicate at such a young age, but it all depends.
Does anyone have any advice on medicating a 4 1/2 year old for behavioral issues? I have been holding off on putting him on any meds for fear that it will only put him in a daze all of the time and he and I have worked to hard to get him where he is now. He can speak in 4 and 5 word sentences, not crystal clear, but well enough to understand him, where as 2 years ago he was completely non verbal and his fits were all of the time. Now he just has rage, he slams doors, kicks, bites, spits, throws things etc. He doesnt do this all of the time but when he does it is uncontrolable. On a typical day he does this about 5 or 6 times, on a bad day it seems like it is all day long. The bad thing is that we had to move in with my parents (a whole other story) and today I had to leave both of my boys (both are Autistic) with my parents for an hour and when I got back wow!!! They were so stressed, he had one of his episodes with them. I hate to feel like I cant leave him but I cant leave him unless he is asleep. And of course my parents have been around him enough to know he acts out, but usually I am there to get him to calm down. I just dont know where to go from here, I think I could handle it but its not just me he is affecting. So any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated!!!!