well from my knowledge of things u need to see what his triggers r and try to work around them my child is 8 and she doesnt like to b around alot of people or alot of noise u cant keep them from everything just see what he like and dont like

My son same age same problems and that is on meds! We are have more tests done, but we saw a decreaase in behavior when gluten, corn syrup, and food color were removed. Took a few weeks to see it but you can really tell now when gets those on accident

Other parents on this site said they suspected drowsiness but our twins were already hyperactive and we did notice that effect. There is also weight gain which we did notice. Every medication is a trade-off for something. We needed to stop the screaming and the aggression. Each twin reacts differently to the same medication so you will have to evaluate the effects on your kid's behavior independently.

thank you for your response! what did risperidone do to their ability to learn? Chase is making so much progress in his language and communication sills, I would hate to dampen that. Are there any side effects that you noticed?

At the age of 5 we hated for our twins to resort to drugs but eventually they had to be on an antipsychotic such as risperidone which they have been successfully on for about 12 years now. Although many anti-aggression meds are not specifically labeled for Autism, they typically address irritable behaviors associated with autism. Your pediatrician should be able to make a recommendation. What made us eventually resort to drugs was to maximize their benefit from special education programs. Hope this helps.