ABOVE: ILLUSTRATION BY VERÓNICA GRECH
Even as a toddler, Jaymes Lesovoy was violent. He hit and bit his parents, and he tore apart his and his sisters’ toys. At 18 months of age, he was diagnosed with autism.
Jaymes’ pediatrician suggested behavioral and speech therapy, but neither approach reined in the boy’s aggression. In 2006, when Jaymes was 2, the doctor prescribed risperidone—an antipsychotic medication that had been approved earlier that year to treat irritability in autistic children aged 5 and older. A few years later, he added a second medication to the mix—the seizure drug valproic acid—although Jaymes does not have seizures.
Still, Jaymes acted out at home and at school, and continued to do so for years. When he was 10, another doctor suggested Jaymes try a different antipsychotic: aripiprazole. That drug had been approved in 2009 to treat irritability in autistic children aged 6 and older.
Jaymes’ ...
