Hi Rex,I hope You got my E-mail,I'm in the middle of chaos at home right now & am checking in,but ,like many times,I do this real fast,hit reply ,& sometimes don't get back for days or? I wanted to & will move up the "children of the Ocean "poem....How special it was for you to type it out! I was gone for a few days to my dads at Easter & my Brain kind of broke "temporarily" I need to catch up.Risperdal has actually helped Amanda Tremendously! At 1st I freaked at growth & weight gain & constant demand of food.After a yr. & lots of attempts at helping her eat better,& not giving into food demands,she has seemed to even out more. This is probably a bit more possible w/an almost 8 yr. old girl ,then an older boy. I must finally post more about my nephiew "johnny" he is Riley's age & has been on meds for Yrs. Amanda has finally slowed the Hyper-manic phase a bit ,after addition of buspar,for anxiety.& it seems to have helped her appetite.I know we tried Topomax & it is supposed to help w/Weight gain,but it was not good.(except it was also October!) not to say I would not try it again either if necessary. Amanda uses her "mood swings "as an excuse for everything.I have nightmares of her Beginning her ":womanhood" some say when thsy are on meds ,It can come as early as 11 yrs .I can't even imagine.Lots of (((<<<HUGS>>>))) I will be back to post more,I'm burning off the BBQ right now...Better go Sheri