Autism Sleep Challenges and Tips
Autism Sleep Challenges and Tips
Autism Sleep Challenges and Tips
Autism Sleep Challenges and Tips
autism and sleep
Autism Sleep Challenges and Tips
5 Tips To Solve Autism Sleep Problems
5 Tips To Solve Autism Sleep Problems
5 Tips To Solve Autism Sleep Problems
Are you a parent of a child with autism and have 15 minutes to spare? Please help the Karolinska Institutet with a survey
Karolinska Institutet – Autism Research
Earlier this week we were contacted by one of our readers who asked us to help find people to take a survey. Suzanne Axelsson, herself a mother with a child on the spectrum told us “My husband is starting up some research into the sleep routines of children with autism. Sleep is an essential part of learning… and also social interaction… if we are tired it is harder to react appropriately to a given situation… and as I see with my own son, who has autism, he is depleted of his energy reserves sometimes rapidly by things that would hardly bother others… this means that good sleep hygiene is even more essential for my son”.
Her husband John Axelsson of the Karolinska Institutet , a leading medical university in Sweden, shared:
“Karolinska Institutet is currently conducting a study to explore the complex relation between autistic traits and sleep quality.
While we know that sleep is often affected in this group, the underlying mechanisms remains largely unknown.
If you have a child that has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder or have autistic traits, you can contribute to this research by filling out a questionnaire about your child and his/her sleep, taking approximately 15 minutes. You will not be asked to provide any identifying information such as name or date of birth, meaning that your answers will remain strictly anonymous and confidential. The data will be used for developing better interventions to improve sleep quality and day time functioning in children with autism.
Simply click on this link to participate (https://survey.ki.se/Survey/4695/en) but please make sure that you have 15 minutes to spend as you only can access the questionnaire once.
Thank you very much for your time, and don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions!
Associate Prof. John Axelsson,
Dept. Clinical Neuroscience
Karolinska Institutet
Does your child with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) experience sleep problems or gastrointestinal symptoms? Please help The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research
Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research
As you many of our readers will know we have been asking our readers to help The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research (ICAN) with various studies. They have contacted us to request our help with a new project.
They say “Some children with autism have both sleep problems and gastrointestinal symptoms, while other children have one of these issues or none at all. The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research (ICAN) in National University of Ireland, Galway is interested in hearing about your experiences with your child or adolescent aged 3 to 17 years with autism. We are interested in understanding how sleep problems and gastrointestinal symptoms affect both child and parent. Even if your child doesn’t have sleep or gastrointestinal problems, we can still learn a lot from your information on why some children have these issues and others do not. If you wish to participate, please use the link below.
Autism and Anxiety : “An Investigation of Anxiety in Children and Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder” – The results of recent research from The Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research h
Irish Centre for Autism and Neurodevelopmental Research
Today we are delighted to present the top line findings.
If you have any comments or questions please feel free to use the comment boxes at the bottom of this blog.
This study looked at the prevalence of symptoms.
• 10% of participants were found to have borderline clinical anxiety levels, while 75% of participants obtained scores which placed them in the clinical range for anxiety. This finding is particularly interesting as a diagnosis of an anxiety disorder was reported for only 25% of the sample.
• Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms (i.e. nausea, bloating, diarrhoea, constipation, abdominal pain) were experienced by 80% of the sample within the last three months.
• Sleep problems were reported by 92% of the sample.
• At least one form of challenging behaviour (self-injurious behaviour, aggressive/destructive behaviour, stereotypic behaviour) was reported for 90% of the sample.
This study investigated the relationships between anxiety and other symptoms.
• Anxiety was found to be related to overall GI symptoms, indicating that higher levels of anxiety are associated with higher levels of GI issues. Specifically, nausea and constipation were found to be correlated with anxiety in this sample.
• Anxiety was found to be related to sleep problems, indicating that higher levels of anxiety are associated with higher levels of sleep problems in children and adolescents with ASD. Specifically, sleep onset delay, sleep duration, sleep anxiety, parasomnias, and daytime sleepiness were found to be correlated with anxiety levels in this sample.
• This study did not find an association between anxiety and challenging behaviour.
This study was also interested in looking at the factors which predicted anxiety.
• Sleep problems were found to positively predict anxiety in the current study. This means that high levels of sleep problems predict that an individual will also experience high levels of anxiety.
• Age was found to be a significant positive predictor of anxiety. This suggests that young people with ASD experience an increase in anxiety levels as they grow older.