How to Make Effective Evaluation of Psychotropic Drug Effects in People with Developmental Disabilities and Self-Injurious Behavior

Psychotropic Medication Monitoring in a Human Services Organization for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder: Description and Evaluation of Interdisciplinary Team Review

“…Most concerning is the limited evidence-based research supporting the therapeutic benefits, efficacy, and safety of psychotropic medications among children with ASD (Bertelli et al, 2016 ; Poling et al, 2017 ; Siegel & Beaulieu, 2012 ). Several factors contribute to research uncertainty including inadequate sample sizes, heterogeneity of participants, disparate dependent measures, lack of placebo-controlled conditions, and experimental design flaws (Poling et al, 2017 ; Schroeder et al, 2013 ).…”

“…Further, behavior measurement and evaluation should be integrated within interdisciplinary teams responsible for the care and treatment of children with ASD in human services settings (Brodhead, 2015 ) especially in the context of medication management (Newhouse-Oisten et al, 2017 ). Beyond the objective of comprehensive evaluation of medication outcomes, a behavior-based interdisciplinary model can also address operations such as standardizing prescription guidelines, implementing methodologically sophisticated clinical trials, and synthesizing pharmacological with behavioral assessment and intervention practices (Cox & Viruse-Ortega, 2022 ; Schroeder et al, 2013 ; Valdovinos et al, 2016 ).…”

“…Apropos to the limitations and constraints of prescribing and evaluating the effects of psychotropic medications in children with ASD, there is little guidance for systems development in behavior-based human services settings (Poling et al, 2017 ; Schroeder et al, 2013 ). In particular, how do settings accurately monitor medication administration among client populations, what information must be reported to inform treatment decisions, and are there operations that support input from multiple disciplines and stakeholders?…”