A regular bedtime routine starting around the same time each night encourages good sleep patterns. A bedtime routine of bath, story and bed can help younger children feel ready for sleep. For older children, the routine might include a quiet chat with you about the day then some time alone relaxing before lights out.
Your child's bedtime routine should be predictable and relatively short. An ideal length of time is 20-30 minutes. This routine should include relaxing activities, like reading or listening to calming music. Your child's bedroom should be dark, quiet, and cool.
ESTABLISH REGULAR BEDTIME HABITS
The routine should include soothing activities for your child. The stability of the routine will be calming to your child each night. Avoid activities before bedtime such as exciting television programs, movies/videos/electronic games, computers, loud music, or bright lights.
Autistic children sometimes have more restless sleep than other children. In particular, they might be prone to body-rocking, head-rolling and head-banging. Although quite common, restless sleep can also be a sign of some less common sleep disorders.
Over half of children with autism – and possibly as many as four in five – have one or more chronic sleep problems. Many adults on the spectrum likewise have difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep through the night.
Sleep disorders may be even more common in children with autism spectrum disorders. Researchers estimate that between 40% and 80% of children with ASD have difficulty sleeping.
The reasons aren't clear but it could be due to anxiety, sensory sensitivities or irregularities in their sleep-wake cycle. The result of lack of sleep is less complicated: exhausted kids, and extra stress on parents already managing the additional needs of their child.
Problems sleeping
anxiety. sensitivity to the light from smartphones or tablets. problems with the sleep hormone melatonin. issues such as hyperactivity or a health condition that affects sleep.
For example, some children might keep favourite objects in specific places, like the bottom corner of a drawer in the bedroom. They might have to get their objects out and touch them before bed. Or they might drink only from particular cups, or ask the same questions and always need specific answers.
It's not unusual for a child's bedroom to be the most brightly-decorated room in the house. But for children with autism, soft, serene colors are the better choice. Soft blues and grays are the most popular choices for bedroom walls, but a pale shade of your child's favorite color is also an excellent option.
Developing a healthy bedtime routine or children with autism starts by creating healthy habits during the day. Your child should wake up at the same time every day, all seven days a week. If your child is 5 years or older, avoid naps. Plan activities throughout the day to help them stay awake.
Start Small. If your child isn't used to falling asleep by themselves, they'll need gradual changes to help them adjust. For example, if your child is used to you laying in bed with him as he falls asleep, sit on his bed instead. Then, move to a chair right next to the bed.
Cramps from constipation, for instance, may keep a person with autism up at night. Sensory sensitivities to light, sound or touch may contribute to difficulty sleeping. Sleep problems may also be an indicator of depression in autistic people, though whether it is a cause or a result of sleep difficulties is unclear.
Some people with autism might have terrible 'sleep hygiene' — bad bedtime habits — or apnea. Others might have gene variations that disrupt other regulators of the circadian rhythm or that change how the body metabolizes melatonin.
Melatonin is used to help autistic children who have sleep problems fall asleep quicker, sleep for longer and wake up fewer times in the night. It might also help to improve daytime behaviour in some autistic children.
This book describes a model of positive behavior supports for preventing and responding to the cycle of meltdown behavior for students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The model includes six phases: Calm, Triggers, Agitation, Meltdowns, Re-Grouping, and Starting Over.
Tantrums, rage, and meltdowns (these terms will be used interchangeably) typically occur in three stages that can be of variable length. These stages are (a) the rumbling stage, (b) the rage stage, and (c) the recovery stage (Albert, 1989; Beck, 1987; Myles & Southwick, 2005).
The lunar cycle modulates human sleep and melatonin rhythms. Evidence that the lunar cycle influences human sleep At full moon, melatonin levels in autistic people are at the lowest point, which leads to more sleep disturbance.
Signs of High-Functioning Autism in Children
May appear more mature for their age and have above-average intelligence. A tendency to avoid eye contact. Trouble deviating from a routine or adapting to changes. Trouble making friends and maintaining social relationships or not “fitting in” with peers.