How to Get Children with Autism to Sleep

From Scientific American:

At least half of children with autism struggle to fall or stay asleep, and parent surveys suggest the figure may exceed 80 percent. For typical children, the figures range from 1 to 16 percent, depending in part on how insomnia is defined. The precise nature of the problem varies from child to child, but the consequences are fairly universal. For parents and caregivers, sleep issues deepen the stresses they may already feel managing the needs of a child on the spectrum on top of life’s other demands.

For the child, sleep problems can make everything else more difficult, night and day. Poor-quality sleep may exacerbate many of the challenging behaviors associated with autism, such as hyperactivity, compulsions and rituals, inattention and physical aggressiveness. A study of 81 children with autism last year strongly linked waking up in the night to acting out during the day. Another study found that sleep problems in children with autism are among the strongest predictors of hospitalization. And yet another study last month linked sleep disturbances to extreme autism traits in children at the severe end of the spectrum. (Read more.)