A new study suggests that parents who received sleep education are more equipped in improving the behavior and quality of life of children with autism.
Children with autism spectrum disorder appeared to have more problems sleeping than other kids. An earlier study showed that sleep problems were observed on up to 80 percent of these children thus affecting their health, memory, and learning skills. Sleep deprivation affects the children’s daytime behavior causing difficulties to the family. It was found that children with autism are more likely to have natural wake/sleep cycles due abnormal melatonin regulation.
Dr. Beth Malow, lead author of the study from Vanderbilt University, and her colleagues recruited parents of 80 children with autism. The children were between 2 and 10 years old. The parents attended a one-hour one-on-one sleep education and four hours of group sleep education. During the sessions, they were taught about the different habits that can help them get their children quality daytime and nighttime sleep. They learned the importance of encouraging their children to exercise, controlling their caffeine consumption, and limiting the time spent in using video games and computers few hours before sleeping.
Parents were also taught in creating a bedtime routine for their children and helpful tips on how to make them sleep if they woke up in the middle of the night.
“We found that one hour of one-on-one sleep education or four hours of group sleep education delivered to parents, combined with two brief follow-up phone calls, improved sleep as well as anxiety, attention, repetitive behavior and quality of life in children with [autism spectrum disorders] who had difficulty falling asleep," said Malow in a press release.
The researchers highlighted that sleep education showed better parental control than those handed with pamphlets which did not help them improve their children’s sleeping behaviors.
The study was published online at the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.
