I think you should do what you think is best for your child, but I can say having a LFA child sometimes you have no option. You have to consider the child and how anxiety and aggression or self injurious behavior is affecting them as well and it is sometimes far worse for them then taking meds.

I honestly do not like the judgement of people who think that parents who do choose meds are just making it easy on themselves and drugging the child. I have said this many times before but you do not have to medicate so much that the child is a zombie and looses their personality.

We tried intense therapy and anything else we could think of before meds but our daughter was still hurting herself and others and was not able to calm down and concentrate and from what we could see miserable. Since putting her on meds she has responded to her therapies and she smiles and giggles and can relax enough to actually enjoy life.

Do what you think is right and do not let people judge you, and if they do, just pY no attention to it

My son was a horrible head banger, scratcher, biter as well..now that his communication skills have improved and his reading (I write out expectations and sometimes contracts of what needs to be done before going somewhere). Though there is a a bite it is VERY rare, and haven't seen a head bang in close to a year :) Hang in there. Building up his trust was also very important, I have to be very careful of making sure to follow through with everything I say (positive and negative) this has helped a lot with his anxiety.

I though HFA was an abbreviation for high functioning autism @A MyAutismTeam Member? The poster is talking about severe autism.

Moriha, some people with severe autism are extremely aggressive towards parents, siblings, therapists etc over 100 times per day, and medication is the only thing that can (hopefully) control it. Others it doesn't help.

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A MyAutis...

I'm not anti-pharmaceutical and do think that they can have an important place in treatment of ASD. That said, I think psychiatrists are FAR too quick to medicate our kids. The proper nutritional support can make SUCH a difference and go a long way towards reducing the need for pharmaceuticals. Maybe not totally eliminating the need for medication, but making it such that a lower dosage and/or fewer different drugs are needed.

I am not going to get bent out of shape if you choose not to medicate your child. My son is 12 5'7" and weighs 228lbs. At times his behavior and anxiety is pretty intense if not for medication he would not be able to function. We as parents do what we have to do for our children.