looking for med advice

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A mother friend of mine with an autistic boy, mid teens, came to me looking for some advice. The kid is non-verbal, does not communicate at all really, and lives in a group home. Recently he has been getting VERY agressive and not sleeping at all.

from the mom "just ask what meds can be used with risperadal.. valporic acid and seroquel for nonverbal, autistic teen male who has epilepsy."

from what i know the seroquel dosages are 150 mg at 8 am and 3 pm, 300 mg at 8 pm, no idea as to other med doses.

Any advice about what to do to help with the agression would be very welcome.

As far as agression goes - has anyone considered the boy is reacting to something.
If non verbat, this acting out is probably his only way of standing up for himself.

[list=]Have his schedule or physical suroundings changed?
Is something "over stimulating" him (unwanted touching - usually by caregivers with good intentions, background noise, itchy clothes, different spells - even a change in laundry soap smell ticks some off)
Is he being stopped from stimming or forced to interact when he prefers not to?[/list]

As a nurse, it is my opinion that he needs to see his Psychiatrist ASAP. With all those meds and all those disorders, he needs a professional to go see him and soon.

I know antipsychotics are often used to quell aggressiveness.

But given that you say he isn't sleeping well, that might be indicative of depression or anxiety (or both).

It sounds like he's on a lot of medications already, and very possibly SSRIs could help him. But medication in moderation is an excellent rule to live by since they can create problems of their own.

Perhaps, if his verbal receptive skills are good (i.e., he is capable of following some verbal instructions), then some form of Behavioral Therapy might be a healthier alternative to adding more medications.

Plus, don't forget, even if his mind isn't as old as it should be, his body's still going through puberty and the whole roller coaster ride that comes with it. Maybe giving him a safe place to physically vent his frustrations might be helpful to him. Provided he learns to mostly keep those frustrations to that particular place.

Does he has any other forms of communicating? Sign language? Etc?