question for bummer

[halftrak]

What Do You Think about Resperdal (spelling) for my son? Behavior Is Not Improving Very Much, Self Inflicking Behavior has Gotten pretty Bad. Thanks Halftrak Anyone else know Very Much about This Drug For Autism , Jump right in with your opinions

[bodybuilder1958]

If I may answer this having a son who is also autistic. He was prescribed resperdal against my wishes when he was 12 yrs old for his behaviors.

My son gain 50+ pounds in less than 8 months. It did nothing to help with his behavior problems which at that time were mainly social.

My problems with resperdal were the numerous side effects. The original reasons for first using this drug for kids was the research that stated that schizophrenia is common in adults with asperger's syndrome. Perhaps they were hoping to prevent schizophrenia at a later date. This drug might help some but the side-effects greatly outweigh the benefits. My son gained absolutely nothing by using it for 10 months. It took him nearly 2 years to get over the pulmonary, liver and skin problems that this drug caused. The weight he gained stayed on sadly to say. It did greatly add to the severity of his asthma.

I will say the worst side effect that he had was his liver. It swelled to nearly double which was why I finally stopped the medication. We never got a good explanation why. But his pediatrician believed it was related to the resperidal.

Talk to other parents who have used this drug. Educate yourself, look at other health problems your child might have. For us the best thing for our son has been time, he's matured with time.

God bless, there are never easy answers
BB

[Bummer Knees]

My niece has been taking resperdol for 3 years, she takes 2 mg at bedtime.
Bree has bipolar.

She's had no problem with this medication, and takes it for depression and to help her sleep.

I remember one time she did not take the meds at bedtime, I found her at 2:00 am sitting it the chair in the front room, she was dressed for school and had her backpack at her feet, said she could not sleep.

I did see a change in behaviors when the doctor decided to reduce the meds to 1 mg, the meds was later increased to 2mg.

As Bodybuilder mentioned there are a lot of side effects to this medication.

[halftrak]

thanks guys I just don;t know what to do.I keep hoping with time his behavior will improve,its not bad at home just at school,its starts out biting and hitting himself and when any teacher or aide tries to stop him he goes after them.They called me yesterday twice , but finally had to go get him about 10 minutes before he was supposed to get on the bus to come home, walked in the room and i swear there was about 10 people in this room surrounding him including the local rent a cop, what the hell?And this cop had his hand on his gun, swear to God, what was he gonna do shoot my son?

[Bummer Knees]

Has a Functional Behavior Assessment been done with a Behavior Introvention Plan in place and as an attachment to the IEP?

One needs done for this school year now!

Using the school's Behavior Plan will not work for many special needs students.

I am going to PM you my phone number, I will be busy this morning but will be able to talk this afternoon.

[halftrak]

i believe there is one scheduled for september, along with the iep.

[jayne]

I tell you I dont know how you ladies do it day to day...My grandsons have autisum and it was a 24/7 with all 5 adults to handle the 2 of them this summer.....Jen how do you do it by yourself? Micheal is while not non verbal he only uses 2 or 3 words to get his thought across and gets frustrated easy.....David just gives up and starts crying if you dont understand him by him pointing at you and him grunting....neither boy likes you to hug them....since we are huggers that was a trial but by the end of the visit this summer they would let me hug them lightly.... David was speaking in 4-5 word sentances.....and Micheal was chattering away like a monkey......had to do with all the animals on the farm they wanted to feed and pet them.....and they had to ask for feed or for someone to hold the cow or bull for them to pet....I love em to death but the thought of taking care of them daily would scare me silly and to do it by my self well girlly you have my utmost respect........you are a superwoman in my book

[halftrak]

thanks jayne yeah i won't lie to you its hard but i have gotten used to it sometimes i cry and then i look at my son and wish i could read his thoughts and i see him when he smiles at me and i love the hell the out of him, he actually never gives me a hard time,and even though he can't talk i know what he wants to say without speaking. it sometimes feels like we have a sort of telepathy going on between us.And my son is a hugger but just has to learn how to control his emotions but that is a part of being autistic.i get so aggravated when i read about all this money going to research for this disease or another but why can't they find a cause for autism, if they can find the cause maybe they could find a cure.we do the best we can as parents no matter what the situation is.

[Bummer Knees]

Halftrack if he has a Behavior Plan in place with the current IEP then the school is required to follow it until a new IEP and plan are put into place.

With this being a new school I can only imagine how frightened you son must feel.

Does he still use the computer for communicating and does the staff know how to use the computer with your son?

[halftrak]

yes he has a vanguard and i took it there already.they seem to be familiar with it.