Solving Sleep Problems in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Do nightly struggles to get your child with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) to go to sleep and stay asleep leave you frazzled and frustrated? Pinpoint and solve the problems underlying sleep difficulties and improve your entire familys quality of life with the effective interventions found in this easy-to-understand and empathetic guide to good sleep. This book is based on a multi-year study of sleep in children with ASDs which concluded that parent training was the key to resolving childrens sleep problems, and that better sleep leads to improvements in anxiety, attention, and behaviour. The authors show parents how to evaluate both daytime and night time habits and routines -- exercise, lighting, caffeine consumption, bedtime preparation, sleep environment -- to identify causes of impaired sleep and make necessary modifications. Parents are then taught to use strategies -- social stories, visual schedules, visual cues, rewards -- to help their child get ready for bed, fall asleep, and stay asleep.