There is no such thing as a “bad sleeper”

I wanted to take a minute to reflect on sleep, in general, as well as offer words of hope to families and practitioners (and friends of the sleepless all over the world!) who are seeking tools for better sleep. Poor sleep has been classified as an epidemic by the Center for Disease Control, so to single-out Autism as an outlier in the poor-sleep equation would be remiss.

When we look at poor sleep in the pediatric Autism community, it looks identical to poor sleep in the pediatric population, at-large. 

We see:

• Difficulty falling asleep at bedtime

• Difficulty staying asleep through the night

• Early morning wake-ups

Behaviorally, we see (to name a few):

• Irritability/tantrums

• Poor diet

• Reactivity

• Learning problems

This may or may not be a surprise, but guess what…these are the same problems we see in the adult population as well. *boop*

My only goal here is to normalize how common and not-unusual sleep problems are so families and individuals don’t fall into the perception that their problems are unique, or that there is something especially wrong with themselves or their children. Sleep problems are EveRywHeRe! And they are fixable.

No one and I mean NO ONE should walk this earth thinking they, or their children, are “just bad sleepers.”

Autism Sleeps:

Children diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder: 

• Have the same potential to sleep as their same-age peers 

• Do not display problems with the architecture of their sleep 

• May experience sleep problems further into childhood than same-age peers 

• Can resolve sleep problems using the same techniques as other children 

• May take more time to adopt changes made at bedtime

Simple Steps to Better Sleep:

(regardless of age or diagnosis!)

1. Wake at the same morning every day (at least until the sleep pattern regulates)

2. Eliminate screen time 2 hours before sleep is expected (age-related waking windows should be taken into consideration when deciding on a “bedtime”)

3. Implement a calming bedtime routine that lasts an hour, and occurs in the same order every night.

4. Fall asleep awake and alone in the designated, long-term sleep space (this may mean some form of sleep correction at bedtime to eliminate unsustainable sleep associations that aren’t present all night long)

5. Seek HELP if you struggle to consistently experience success with numbers 1-4.