Family management of common sleep disturbances among children with autism: Implications for pediatric nursing research and practice.
Shayleigh Dickson Page, Lindsey Clark, Margaret C Souders and 2 others
PMID 40090101WHAT IT FOUND
Caregivers describe managing sleep in children with autism as a balancing act between the child’s sensory needs and the family’s own sleep.
Night wakings were most common, but often went unnoticed by parents if the child stayed in bed. Screening tools may miss these disturbances.
Key findings
01Night wakings were the most frequently described sleep disturbance, reported by 43.3% of caregivers.
02In 20% of cases, caregivers reported no sleep disturbances in interviews, but the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire indicated clinically significant problems.
03Some children had 'independent night wakings' where they occupied themselves and returned to sleep without waking the caregiver, making these events invisible to parental report.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
This was a secondary analysis of a study not originally focused on sleep, so sleep questions may not have been as thorough as in a dedicated sleep study. The sample was recruited from a single academic medical center in the northeast US, limiting generalizability to other regions or socioeconomic groups. Caregivers were not selected for having children with sleep problems, which helps prevalence estimates but means the group includes many children without sleep issues. The study relied entirely on caregiver report; no objective measures like actigraphy were used to verify sleep patterns.
Declared interests
The authors declared no competing interests.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume a child is sleeping well just because the caregiver reports no problems. Caregivers often miss night wakings if the child stays in bed, and some families normalize poor sleep. Always use a standardized screening tool like the CSHQ to detect these discrepancies.