We have used meds fir a while but as both of the children have gone into puberty we noticed we needed to readdress the meds. We changed some and adjusted dosage as well. This process is not quick and it takes time and patients. Once you get the combination correct it does generally work.

I say the same thing about therapies as I do with meds. Don't give up just because you don't have the right Med, the right dosage or the right time of day to take it, and don't give up on the therapy because the therapist wasn't good. These things all take time and there is often no easy quick solution.

You have to think that you are using meds because of body chemistry and what is puberty, it is changed body chemistry. You have to adjust fir it so that is most likely why the meds are not working as well as they should. With all that being said don't give up on the therpies either because once you can take the edge off then the therapies will work again as well.

My son had already been on atypical antipsychotics (Risperdal, then Abilify. now Seroquil) for SIBs and aggression but we had kept the dosage minimal (for fear of side effects) so they weren't effective when the mood swings kicked in and being that he's MR and impulsive ABA wasn't having any effect in behavior modification. The mood swings and outbursts became so severe that we had to put him in an inpatient program for about a month. Afterward he was still acting out so severely (and we were so sleep deprived, stressed out and fearful for our younger son) that it was determined that it would be best to just transfer him to a residential treatment facility where he's been since last September.

Since then, they've increased the antipsychotics to the maximum dosage but (IMO) his outbursts have become learned behavior and (based on family history) we're all starting to think that maybe some sort of sedative might be better suited. He's already on a minimal dose in the evenings to help with sleep.

Thank you for your answers, comments, advice, and recommendations. And support, this is what is most important and needed to all of us.