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A Drug for Autism

By Henry J. Fishman, M.D.
ConsumerAffairs.com

August 16, 2005

Autism • Victory for Autistic Children in Michigan • Federal Court: MMR Vaccine Does Not Cause Autism • Mercury Exposure, Autism Linked In Study • UCLA Researchers Find Autism Gene • Autism Fad Treatments On the Rise • CDC Study Finds Autism More Widespread than Previously Thought • Older Fathers More Likely to Have Autistic Children • Many Pediatricians Fail to Screen for Autism • Schizophrenia Drug May Be Effective in Autism • Studies Find Autism Not Caused by Vaccinations • Old Vaccines May Pose Autism Risk to Children --- • News for Parents

A drug used to treat schizophrenia in adults may help autistic kids with aggressive behavior. This is according to an article published in the American Journal of Psychiatry.

Researchers studied the drug called resperidone in 63 autistic youths ages five to 17. The patients were mostly boys and all exhibited aggressive, disruptive behavior.

All the kids were treated with the drug for eight weeks to make sure they got better. Researchers then gave them the drug for another 16 weeks. Most of the autistic children got even better.

In fact 83 percent were much or very much improved in their behavior. Nine percent improved a bit and only eight percent got worse.

Without the drug, the untreated kids quickly returned to their old ways.

While the drug did help, it also caused some weight gain and it needs to be studied over long time periods.

Still, resperidone may turn out to be a good alternative for autistic kids with aggressive behavior.

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