Medicating children with Autism

I realize I haven't posted about Special Ed. in a while. That's because I really haven't come across anything too exciting and controversial. I also realize many of my sped posts seem to be about autism. That's probably because a heck a lot of the new research is about autism, most of my experience is with students who have autism, and it's super interesting to me. So here's another post about autism.

Source

Background: Because autism is prevalent in our society (1.1% of children are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) according to the center for disease control and prevention (CDC)) more and more people are looking for solutions, treatments, etc. Parents make up a huge portion of the population looking for treatments. Unfortunately, parents are not an unbiased party and tend to look for someone or something they can blame (MMR vaccines is a common one - which the British Medical Journal declared fraudulent earlier this year by the way) and some miracle way to fix it (diets, behavior therapies, sensory therapies, and others).

Issue: A new analysis of studies has concluded that most of autism treatments "fall short;" meaning that they are not effective for populations of people with autism. Note: there have been individuals who have had successful results with medication. Recently, there was a small breakthrough in research that may connect autism to a single gene (HOORAY! - though my excitement may be short-lived, this "breakthrough" has happened several times before). Let's continue with the assumption that we have not yet found a one-all be-all solution and ask ourselves: is it worth it to medicate your child with autism hoping that this particular medication will work for your child?

If you immediately understand this picture, you understand autism. haha.
A common trait found in autism is stacking, organizing, piling, lining up, etc.

What I think: This is a super tough question for me. I do not have a child with autism so it is hard to go with my gut and say "no I would not medicate my child." Not because I don't believe in medicine and not because I'm okay with the behaviors that come along with autism, but because research currently shows that they do not work. If the medication did not have any side effects, then sure, no biggie. But there are side effects. Big ones. And I don't think it's worth it to medicate my child when the chance of it working is smaller than the chance of serious side effects. 

But, like I said, I am not a parent of a child with autism. I'm not the one with sleepless nights because my child wakes up in the middle of the night, unlocks the door, and wanders outside. I'm not the one who deals with the random tantrums, with the headbanging, with the lack of communication, with the social ostracism from church and community. I'm not the one with the heartache of watching your child rejected by his peers. I'm not the one whose child doesn't say "I love you too." Of course I would want a solution. I just don't believe that the solution can currently come through medication.