New drug hope for children like Simon

May 9 2003
By Amanda Dunn
Health Reporter

Picture: ANGELA WYLIE
Simon Dafter, who has Asperger syndrome, has his sights set on becoming a policeman, or perhaps building a town.

When her son Simon was about three, Trisha Dafter noticed a sudden, distinct change in his personality. "He'd been a lovely, placid little boy and he just started getting stubborn," she said.

Mrs Dafter was seeing in Simon the first signs of Asperger syndrome, a type of autism that causes children to struggle with behaviour and social interaction.

Often the children, like Simon, are intellectually very bright, but have difficulty seeing how certain behaviour affects other people, and they tend to have a narrow set of interests.

A new trial at the Royal Children's Hospital hopes to demonstrate the effectiveness of the anti-depressant Zoloft - which can help control obsessive-compulsive disorders in adults - in treating the syndrome.

Child and adolescent psychiatrist John Mathai, who is directing the trial, said he hoped the anti-depressants would help control repetitive, aggressive behaviour. The hospital already has 10 children on the trial, but hopes to recruit up to 60 children, aged seven to 15. Half will be given the drug and the other half will not.