Sleep disturbances are associated with specific sensory sensitivities in children with autism.
Orna Tzischinsky, Gal Meiri, Liora Manelis and 8 others
PMID 29610657WHAT IT FOUND
In children with autism, more severe touch hypersensitivity was linked to more reported sleep problems.
Auditory and visual sensitivities were not. Controls showed a similar touch link plus vestibular. This is an association, not proof touch causes poor sleep.
Key findings
01Children with autism had higher parent-reported total sleep disturbance scores than controls, and more exceeded the clinical cutoff of 41.
02In children with autism, more severe touch and oral Sensory Profile scores were significantly related to more severe total sleep disturbance scores, while auditory and visual scores were not.
03In children with autism, touch hypersensitivity scores alone explained most of the variation in total sleep disturbance scores that the full five-domain model explained.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
All sleep and sensory data came from parent report, and parents may under-report night wakings and over-report sleep duration. The study measured sleep and sensory symptoms at the same time, so it cannot show which came first or whether touch sensitivity causes sleep problems. Controls were not precisely matched by gender and IQ was not measured. Twenty-two children with autism were taking medications, so medication effects cannot be fully ruled out. Not all children with autism completed ADOS; only 49 did. No intervention was tested.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that touch hypersensitivity causes sleep problems or that treating touch sensitivity will improve sleep. The study measured both at the same time using parent report, and it did not test an intervention.