My son is on an IEP for emotional disturbance. Unmedicated he is not able to even stop and take a breath to slow down. He just reacts. Badly. The meds help him have those couple seconds to think before he does. He has no side effects and feels normal. Just a normal kid.

His school does group social skills a couple times a week which has really helped him. They have a great group of teachers this year. I'm hoping he might be able to go off at least his risperdal as he gets older and more mature and learns better coping skills. We tried therapy for a couple years without much luck. I may try again now that he is a little more mature. The other meds are for his ADHD.