Parent Coaching About Autism} about sleep issues.caused by ASD?

[Guest guest]

Are My Child’s Sleep Issues Caused by His Personality or Her ASD?By Connie

My daughter takes forever to go to sleep and wakes in the middle of the night, is she just misbehaving or is it because of her Autism?

My son has PDD-NOS and is up most of the night wanting to play and I don’t know how or if to discipline him?

I deal with many parents who are in a quandary about how to respond and are unsure about what to do. They are constantly torn between seeing the behavior as intentionally disobedient and therefore disciplining the child harshly for not listening or viewing the behavior as a result of their neurological impairment and therefore accepting the sleeplessness assuming there is nothing they can do about it.

Unfortunately, nighttime sleep issues are very common with children on the Autism spectrum but they can be resolved if one is patient and persistent.

Whether it is trouble falling asleep, waking frequently throughout the night, or only catching limited z’s, none of this is pleasant. A little sleeplessness from your child once in a while is to be expected but night after night of sleep interruption can and will have a negative effect on everyone in the household eventually.

Whatever the circumstances might be – sleep resistance or another challenging behavior – parents often want to know the answer to this question.

Is my child’s behavior a result of his personality/temperament or is it the Autism Spectrum Disorder talking?

Being unsure about the cause can make parents feel stuck, inert, confused and lacking confidence. Parents feel caught in a dilemma, not knowing how to respond to their child – acting on the assumption that there are two different responses required depending on where the behavior stems from.

Should you handle a situation differently if you think it is simply an expression of your child’s personality and temperament as opposed to her diagnosis of Autism? Or should you address all behaviors in the same manner?

Well there is no black and white way to look at this. I always encourage all the parents I coach to customize their responses to every behavior because there is no one size fits all approach.

Regardless of where any behavior originates from, in order to address it effectively you first need to gather information about the context the behavior is occurring in. Once this data is collected all you can do is act upon your best assumption; creating a plan, putting it into play, then evaluating and tweaking it if necessary. If you are not successful with your first guess then all you can do is move on to your next best guess.

All parenting is like this, Autism or not, it is simply more challenging when you have a child with special needs, especially if your child is non-verbal. Making an accurate deduction is often easier with a neuro-typical child because he or she shares a world similar to yours.

Whether it is personality or the ASD diagnosis, the important thing is to play detective like you did when your child was an infant – “Is he crying because he is hungry? . . . Is she wet? . . . Is he overtired? . . . Is she in pain? Even when you are relating to a child that is verbal, you should never assume that he or she can explain why they are doing something or acting as they are.

If your child is having trouble sleeping think carefully about what keeps YOU from getting a good night’s sleep. It might be:

Anxiety about work, a medical issue, finances, your relationship with your spouse? Anxiety can be caused by many things and never assume that your child has nothing to be anxious about. Try living in a neuro-typical world when your brain is wired differently than anyone else’s. Indigestion from eating too much or too late, or something that just doesn’t agree with you? Many children on the Autism spectrum experience acid reflux or have minor allergic reactions to certain food. Pain from a day of hard physical labor or playing sports as if you were a teen? Kids with ASD often have sensory processing disorders that make it difficult to identify where pain is coming from or even know what it is. Extraneous noises such as a baby crying, the simple tick of a clock or the surprise smell of a skunk saying hello in the middle of a summer’s night? For a sensory sensitive child with ASD the sheets just washed in a new scented detergent, the distant sound of a car alarm, excessive light from a full moon or the nightlight shining from under their door might be enough to keep the sandman away.

The best thing to do is investigate all possibilities and rule things out one at a time.

- You may want to look at digestive issues. Even though things may seem fine to you, your child may be having some cramping and not understand what is going on. Consider changing your child’s dietary intake one baby step at a time. Eliminate processed food and gradually change to a nutritious whole food diet or experiment with a casein free/gluten free diet and watch for results. Make it family affair and have everyone join in on this experiment. You may say yuck, but the benefits you will reap are many – improved overall well-being, better attention, less moodiness, etc – for all!

- Sensory issues often get in the way of body awareness in children with an ASD, even within internal organs, which can make it difficult to recognize or pinpoint any source of pain. This can result in odd behavior – crying extensively, acting out, interrupted sleep etc. The book, The Out-of-Sync Child – Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder by Carol Stock Kranowitz, M.A., will help you gain insight in this area.

- Another nighttime roadblock to good sleep might be anxiety. The best thing you can do is make your child’s bedtime predictable by following a regular routine and creating a bedroom that is as ‘sensory-friendly’ and ‘sleep-friendly’ as possible. You may also want to try Epsom salt baths before bed – they work magic for some children if the nighttime waking isn’t due to gut pain. Some parents swear by Melatonin but I would talk to a doctor or a naturopath about appropriate dosage before you begin.

Yes, it does take time to carefully examine the circumstances surrounding any behavior before you can address it, whether it stems from your child’s temperament/personality or the ASD. And yes, it often requires you to shift your lifestyle and make changes to your environment. But this approach will produce the best results in the long run.

I know, “It isn’t fair!†but it does work and it will give you and your entire family better peace of mind.

[Guest guest]

And sometimes it is just that these kids lack enough serotonin to make them sleepy.  Melatonin is very helpful for many of these kids.  It has helped our son tremendously.  He sleeps great now.