Have you considered diet change? I feel like nutrition is the root problem to many behaviors. Also introducing a good strength probiotic will help (custom probiotics 11 strain formula is great). Diet wise I would cut out all grains and sugars. Check out the www.gapsdiet.com

All this talk about the horrible side effects of Risperdal is making me sick, but so far on day three, I see a small imporvement with .5mg. My daughter was suppose to start at 1mg, but being an RN and knowing my daughter, caution was the operative word so I took it upon myself to cut it in half. For her any perceivable reaction to medication makes her become non-complient. Titrating it to the proper does for her body is paramount. If it starts making her lactate, tho, it's out of here. Too many other antipsychotics to choose from to have to put up with that!

My daughter has been on riperdal for a good many years and has tolerated it fairly well. It made a big difference in her aggressive and out of control behaviors. I will tell you though that we have had some side effects. She has had issues with it increasing her prolactin levels and she can only handle 1.5mg a day. If we go over that dose her prolactin levels go sky high. The best advice I can give you is be sure you have a good doctor that is willing to take it slow with finding a good medication that will work for your son. That is the key! There are several medications that can help but you must do some trial and error to find the one or combination of meds that work best for your son. All honesty, all medications have risks but if you and your doctor work well together you can find them to be a nice benefit to help manage your child's ASD.

I personally hated it. It wasn't at all what we needed. My 14 yr old daughter is rather high functioning, but emotionally immature. She was having meltdowns and pitching fits to get out of doing her school work or anything else she didn't want to do. She would panic and follow me down our long country driveway screaming when I went to work and I just wanted to try something to chill her out because it was a nightmare. She was calmer, but her legs started stiffening up on a car trip about 3 hours away and she could barely walk. I wasn't positive what the problem was, but knew the new meds were likely th culprit. We were at a Braves game in Atlanta, she was having to maneuver all the stairs and lots of walking in a lot of pain. It was scary, but the stiffness went away and she is ok now. I am sure it has been beneficial for some, but definitely not worth it for us.

My son has been on Respirdone ( a type of respiradal) 1.5 mg every morning and 1.5mg every night for the last 2 years and 2 months. He seems to do well on it I have not had any issues except extreme thirst,hungary,constipation...but it has helped with some extreme behaviors and he even naps now...shocking for a child who never ever stops moving. He still does not sit to eat..he runs and takes a bit and then runs and takes a bite...but he will sit on a swing now and he naps now. My son also takes Kapvay with it..Kapvay is time released blood pressure medication to help him slow down just a bit..it is a weak drug..my sister is a pharmacist and she told me Kapvay is not an extreme medication.I was scared of medications at first to. I understand. Good luck and God Bless.