I am a firm believer in using medications to bring crisis behavior under control. Without the crisis behavior under control, therapy and parenting get nowhere. If the Risperdal has mellowed him out, take advantage of the window that is giving you to work on therapy and developing parenting techniques that work for him. It does not mean he needs to be on Risperdal forever. Both of my boys were on significantly more medications than they are currently taking. The medications did their job, gave us a chance to reach them with therapy and parenting and they are both borderline-PCs now.
Just because he is a terror at 6 does not mean that he will be a terror at 16. When Eeyore was 5, his psychiatrist recommended we give him back to the state (we adopted him from foster care at 4) as he declared him 'permenantly damaged'. At almost 15, he is a great young man that I am proud to call son.
Welcome to our little corner of the world
