• Doctors moving to the newly approved medication as their first-line treatment because it's the "newest and greatest."
• Doctors prescribing for children who aren't yet mature enough to notice and tell their parents about potentially serious side effects.
• General practice physicians, meaning well, who prescribe newly approved medications when they know little about the medication or the condition for which they're prescribing it.

Although there is definitely a need for treatments for children and adolescents, when such "serious" medications are approved for their use, there should be different regulations applied than when prescribing for adults. More care should be taken to ensure that the doctors who prescribe it are well versed in both the medications and the conditions for which they're prescribed. Better patient information should be developed for parents of children who will be taking such medications. (The patient information section of the Risperdal prescribing information is pathetically skimpy.)

In short, yes, we need to see more medications approved for children and adolescents, but we also need to see that they're prescribed and used correctly and safely.

Read more SharePosts about the FDA's approval of Risperdal in children. 

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Resources:

Reinberg, Steven. "FDA Approves First Anti-Psychotic for Kids." HealthDay. August 22, 2007.

Risperdal, full prescribing information.