Posted by Racer on March 27, 2005, at 0:53:35
In reply to my son;autism, posted by Spriggy on March 26, 2005, at 19:18:03
Well, I can't possibly tell you everything that Dr Grandin wrote on the subject, so I'll refer you to her book, "Thinking in Pictures", to read the whole section on medications.
Basically, she makes a really, really good point: there are a number of different forms and experiences of autism, so no one drug will be most helpful for a majority of autistics. She writes fairly extensively about differing forms of autism, and offers her theories on which meds might be most helpful for different forms.
Mostly, though, she's offering an explanation of how she perceives the world, augmented by what she's been told by other autistics. She herself was probably a classic Kanner's with a lot of great educational work that brought her to a level that allowed her to find a functional place in the world. One of the things that she wrote that most intrigued me was actually about the similarities of the sensory distortion she and other autistics experience and various forms of epilepsy. (And the fact that some drugs will make symptoms a lot worse for some autistics -- and that most autistics do not do well on neuroleptics.)
Oh, and she also states very strongly that most austistics require much, much lower doses of any psychopharmacologic medications than non-autistics. That an autistic on the therapeutic dose of, say, Prozac is much more likely to have overwhelming adverse effects, while a much lower dose may be the perfect medication to quiet anxiety, and ease the sensory distortion.
Hope something in there helps, and that you'll look into her books. (I'm assuming you're familiar with her, though? Seems every parent of an austistic child I've ever come across is...)
poster:Racer
thread:475720
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050326/msgs/476112.html