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

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are often prescribed psychotropic medications but pharmacotherapy is typically conducted and evaluated based on clinical judgement without reference to objective measurement of treatment effectiveness and combined efficacy of pharmacological-behavioral interventions. We describe an interdisciplinary review team (IRT) model at a human services organization for children with ASD that was designed to standardize a process of psychotropic medication monitoring through (1) coordinated involvement of medical, nursing, behavior analyst, and special education professionals, (2) parent-guardian participation, (3) data-driven decision making, and (4) high-level administrative support. Our description includes case illustrations of medication reduction-elimination trials with five students and social validity assessment of IRT clinicians, nurses, and parent-guardians. Key components of the IRT model are emphasized with associated practice and research recommendations.