Sleepless on the spectrum
by Beth
Our son has never slept well. At home he always had problems falling asleep, then had problems staying asleep. As a result, so did we.
I used to think, “well, that’s just Gus. It’s part of his personality.” But after reading a post on Autism Research Blog: Translating Autism I realize Gus isn’t the only kid with a disability who found it hard to fall asleep at night.
Parents of children with autism usually report that their children experience significant sleep problems, such as difficulty falling asleep. Yet, little research has been conducted on the specific type of sleep difficulties prevalent among children …
The blog post reviewed an article in the Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry called Sleep Patterns in Preschool-Age Children With Autism, Developmental Delay, and Typical Development. The study found that children with autism sleep significantly less than typically developing kids in a 24-hour period. Of particular interest to me was the fact that typically developing kids had more awakenings than children with autism, but when kids with autism woke up in the night, they’d stay up significantly longer. This was always the case with our Gus.
This suggests that while children with autism do not seem to have difficulty staying asleep, they do experience difficulty falling asleep after sleep interruptions.
Gus is 21 years old now. He lives in a group home. Staff members there report that when Gus wakes up in the middle of the night, it’s pretty impossible to convince him to go back to sleep. It goes without saying that we miss Gus very much since he moved away. Still, I gotta admit … I really do appreciate a full night’s rest now.
January 25th, 2010 at 11:36 pm
Look into a weighted blanket, it has really helped our family. A good source of information is http://www.weightedblanket.net
August 6th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
My son is 12 and has Aspberger’s and ADHD. He has never slept well. He takes melatonin every night and it usually helps. The strange thing is we have noticed a difference between brands. Nature Made has been the best.We also tried a regimine of lunesta 1.5 mg every night for 2 weeks and then weaned him down for two weeks. It helped for about a month – he was actually sleeping.
August 6th, 2008 at 12:00 am
beth i am so sorry i forgot to mention that our daughter has terrible seasonal allergies so she takes 4 mg singulair.and 1 tsp of zrytec every evening besides half tsp of melatonin.i had my daughter tested for all allergies esp since she we found out she is pdd/nos.we wanted to make sure she didn’t need a gluten&casein diet.when i forget to get her melatonin she won’t sleep through the night.
August 3rd, 2008 at 12:39 am
we are wondering what can be done for the lack of sleep& contuing to remain asleep for our daughter.our developmental pedi recommmded melatoin drops about half teaspoon or more if needed . it’s amazing how sleeping has helped our 5 year old.i also will ask develp pedi to send her for a sleep study who specializes in children.we are fornatenate enough to live by CHILDREN’S in DALLAS.