• Corpus ID: 49473226

Addressing Sleep Disturbances in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

@inproceedings{Armstrong2015AddressingSD,
  title={Addressing Sleep Disturbances in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders},
  author={Kathleen Hague Armstrong and Meredeth A Rowe and William C. Kohler},
  year={2015}
}

• K. Armstrong, M. Rowe, W. Kohler
• Published 2015
• Psychology, Medicine

Up to 68 % of children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (CwASD) suffer from sleep disturbances that adversely affect their learning, emotional regulation, behavioral functioning, and safety, as well as impact their parents’ sleep and stress levels. The most common sleep concernsreported by parents/caregivers include difficulty initiating or maintaining sleep and early rising, resulting in insufficient sleep time. Furthermore, sleep problems in CwASD occur early in development, persist into adolescence, and continue into the adult years, making this a life-long challenge.Inadequate sleep duration has been shown to increase ASD symptoms, disruptive behavior problems, and anxious symptoms;to reduce the effectiveness of therapeutic and educational interventions; and to impair family functioning; making sleep a critical area for intervention. Although more rigorous research is needed to establish the efficacy for behavioral interventions and sleep disturbances in CwASD, parents/caregivers prefer behavioral interventions over pharmaceutical treatment options, and a growing body of evidence suggests that behavioral interventions can be associated with behavior changes and positive outcomes for CwASD. This article describes factors related to sleep disorders, different types of sleep problems including poor sleep hygiene, assessment of sleep disturbances, and interventions to utilize in clinical practice.