Does my ASD kid need medication?

[Anonymous]

We have a 4 year old child who was diagnosed with Autism when he was 3 years old. He's very verbal, smart, and funny. He can also be pretty rigid and irritable. When he's frustrated, he will describe in detail how he will hurt you (e.g. "I'm going to throw you out the window") and on occasion will take a swing (which doesn't hurt because he's 4). Every other week, he'll wake up from a nap and have a 30 minute meltdown. I wouldn't call it "violent" per se - more just extreme irritability.

He's seeing an OT and Speech Therapist however, I'm wondering if medication might help him. When I read about medication for Autistic kids, it's typically kids that injure themselves or kids that are extremely violent. I'm also used to reading about medication for kids that are much older. Has anyone medicated their young one?

Medication isn't my preference but we're doing all that we can to improve his overall quality of life.

[Anonymous]

Autism itself doesn't need meds. My autistic child takes medication for anxiety and ADHD. That may or may not be relevant for you now and may or may not become relevant in the future. If and when you decide to explore medication, I recommend working with a psychiatrist or developmental pediatrician, someone who works with lots of autistic kids, not your general pediatrician.

[Anonymous]

I’d be very cautious. Adhd and anxiety meds actually made my child’s symptoms worse. I was desperate because school was awful for him in K but his behavior has improved tremendously off of the meds. Maturity and therapies have helped.

[Anonymous]

One of my kids with autism takes ADHD meds and the other takes no meds. It depends on the child.

Fwiw, the ADHD meds help with rigidity and irritability, but also make him a bit low sometimes and he doesn't like them. Our doctor doesn't want to rock the boat by trying different meds though.

[Anonymous]

What does your developmental pediatrician say?