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The effects of haloperidol on learning and behavior in autistic children

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Abstract

The effects of haloperidol on behavioral symptoms and learning were critically assessed in autistic children in an ongoing double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. Children were randomly assigned to haloperidol-placebo-haloperidol or placebo-haloperidol-placebo treatment sequences. Statistically, haloperidol was significantly superior to placebo in reducing behavioral symptoms. In discrimination learning paradigm, children receiving haloperidol learned the discrimination while those on placebo did not. Discrimination attained on haloperidol was retained when the children were switched to placebo.

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Reference note

  1. Anderson, L. T., & Campbell, M.Haloperidol in autistic children: Effects on discrimination learning. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, D.C., January 3–8, 1982.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, New York University Medical Center, 550 First Avenue, 10016, New York, New York

    Magda Campbell, Lowell T. Anderson, Arthur M. Small, Richard Perry, Wayne H. Green &  Rochelle Caplan

Authors
  1. Magda Campbell
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  2. Lowell T. Anderson
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  3. Arthur M. Small
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  4. Richard Perry
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  5. Wayne H. Green
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  6. Rochelle Caplan
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Additional information

This study was supported in part by Public Health Service Grant MH-32212 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authors wish to thank McNeil Pharmaceutical for supplying haloperidol and matching placebo tablets. Statistical analyses were performed by Dr. Ira L. Cohen. The special educational program to the children was provided by Mrs. Ruth Geelan, M.S., and Mr. Charles W. Hamilton. Part of this paper was presented at the III World Congress of Biological Psychiatry, June 28–July 3, 1981, Stockholm, Sweden, and was published in theProceedings of the Congress (B. Jansson, C. Perris, & G. Struwe, Eds.), Elsevier Biomedical Press, 1981.

Dr. Caplan was in receipt of a special training grant from the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee Inc., Israel.

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Campbell, M., Anderson, L.T., Small, A.M. et al. The effects of haloperidol on learning and behavior in autistic children. J Autism Dev Disord 12, 167–175 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531306

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01531306

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