Guanfacine for ADHD in children with autism -- and a recent literature report

Guanfacine in Children with Autism and/or Intellec...[J Dev Behav Pediatr. 2008] is basically reassuring. Guanfacine substantially improves ADHD behaviors in children with autism and similar cognitive disorders. It doesn't have other behavior score benefits. Side-effects were as expected.

I have a standing PubMed search on Guanfacine because it's a long used medication that was recently found to be an "alpha 2A adrenoceptor". That's making it the subject of extensive research, such as:

• changes in neuronal connectivity
• extended release works well in children and adolescents
• strengthening working memory networks (?)
• better prefrontal cortical regulation of behavior in aging animals (?)
  

Guanfacine (Tenex) is not FDA approved for use in ADHD, but the recent crop of articles expect approval shortly. It has been widely used for several years. Our son has taken it for about 2 years.

The challenge is that this medication will be taken for a very long time by very large numbers of children, often in combination with Ritalin. There are sure to be surprises, both good and bad. We don't know it nearly as well as we do Ritalin.