Autism and sleep. It is a topic my husband told me I could never include in my first book because at the time, our 10 year old son Lucas, was still sleeping in our bed and waking up at night.
Luckily, another behavior analyst gave me some tips almost 20 years ago now and I not only solved Lucas’ sleep issues but I have helped many other families with their autism and sleep challenges using these 3 tips.
In this episode, I dive into the common sleep problems many children face, especially those with autism or speech delays.
In this episode, I dive into the common sleep problems many children face, especially those with autism or speech delays.
Drawing from my own experience with my son Lucas, who struggled with sleep for eight years, I share effective solutions that worked for us.
I talk about the importance of consistent behavioral strategies, like keeping my bedroom door locked and calmly walking the child back to their room.
I also highlight how prevalent sleep disorders are in children with special needs and provide resources like my autism and sleep Kindle ebook to guide you. By following these steps, I’m confident you can see significant improvements in your child’s sleep, sometimes within just a few nights.
You’ll Learn
Children with autism often struggle with sleep due to a combination of physiological, neurological, and behavioral factors. Here are some key reasons according to the National Autistic Society articles on sleep:
In my podcast, I share my personal experience with my son Lucas, who struggled with sleep for many years. I emphasize the importance of consistent behavioral strategies, such as keeping the bedroom door locked and calmly walking the child back to their room if they wake up.
These methods helped Lucas transition from years of sleep disturbances to sleeping through the night within just a few days. Understanding and addressing these multifaceted sleep issues can significantly improve sleep quality for children with autism, contributing to better overall health and quality of life.
Many individuals with autism and/or speech delays struggle with sleep. There are a variety of autism sleep problems I have seen through the years that my newest sleep e-book can help you tackle!
Addressing autism and sleep issues is not easy. It takes consistency and a strong plan but with the follow tips, you can begin tackling sleep at home.
Here are the top 3 tips to changing your child’s sleep.
Before beginning any intervention it is important to get a full picture of a child’s development with a quick assessment. It is also important to complete the sleep assessment found here as well so that you can identify your top needs when it comes to dealing with sleep.
By following these steps, we were able to improve Lucas’s sleep dramatically within just a few nights. At this point, Lucas was 10 and did have a TV in his room where he would watch his VHS tapes. I did not remove the TV from the room as our main goal was to stop from night waking and wandering but the TV had become a sleep dependency for falling asleep.
A sleep dependency is when you fall asleep with something on, a pacifier or someone touching you, when you wake up and it isn’t there, you may struggle to fall back asleep. This is why if you are laying with your child to go to sleep, this is a first step to tackling, remove yourself slowly from the bedtime routine so that when they wake in the night they aren’t expecting you.
Within my sleep ebook, now available, I discuss the step by step of what I did to solve sleep and other common ways to treat sleep. Some other considerations when treating sleep from the National Autistic Society include; Treating sleep problems in children with autism involves a multi-faceted approach that addresses the specific challenges these children face. Here are some effective strategies:
By addressing the multifaceted nature of sleep problems in children with autism, these strategies can help improve sleep quality and overall well-being for both the child and their family.
Recently I did an episode explaining the top 5 questions I get about autism and sleep. Grab the top questions and answers here including what to do if your child won’t sleep alone, is having night terrors or night wakings, or what to do if your child with autism is having early morning wakings!
Resources
Get started with Dr. Mary Barbera’s proven strategies and take the next step toward real progress today.