Exciting news is emerging that could change the lives of many parents of children and adolescents with autism. Extreme tantrums often "run their lives," according to Dr. Lawrence Scahill, Professor of Nursing and Child Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center in New Haven, Connecticut. As the Director of Yale's Research Unit on Pediatric Pharmacology (RUPP), Dr. Scahill, along with colleagues around the country, is spearheading research that examines complementary use of the drug Risperadone with a therapist-taught parent behavioral training model. Preliminary results appear promising. First, the study showed that the parent training program could be administered faithfully and uniformly in the three research sites that have been mentioned (Yale, Ohio State, and Indiana)--indicating that "exporting" it to others seems plausible. While further evaluation remains necessary, it appears that the combined treatment has advantages over medication alone for these children with autism and serious behavior problems.