So my nephew has severe, classic autism with OCD, ADHD, ODD, and sensory processing disorder. His doctor prescribed him 1mg Guanfacine daily. It’s a medication for ADHD that is not a stimulate. He’s 4. I’m not particularly a fan of medicating children that young, but if anyone could benefit from it, it’s him. He can’t function and it’s more than just the autism because I’m a behavioral therapist and have never seen any child as severe as him. This is temporary so he can focus during his therapy sessions with his behavioral, speech, and occupational therapists and hopefully be approved to go to school. As of right now he’s been denied schooling.

He took his first dose yesterday at 2PM and slept from 3PM-7PM, then woke up for 2 hours and slept for another 12 once he had his dinner. He woke up this morning for breakfast and played for a few hours and is sleeping again. This a child who usually only sleeps for 3 hours per 24 hour period. He didn’t get a dose today because my SIL was worried. I’ve been over there to monitor his blood pressure and heart rate because potential side effects include lowering that and they are fine, so he’s just really tired from the medicine.

I told my SIL to call the doctor to see if she can cut the medicine in half and try a half dose, does that sound like a good idea? Has anyone had their child on Guanfacine and switched to a better medication? I’m open to any recommendations. Thank you!

***UPDATE: doctor said to cut the pill in half and see how he does with that. We will be following up with his neurologist on Monday.