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Lost mum in need of help with teens

rockchickmum

So where to being.......

I probably needed to have asked this 14 year ago but better late than never

I have 2 autistic children who were both late diagnosed; my daughter is 16 years old in April, goes to a specialist school and was diagnosed at 15 and my son is 13 years old, goes to mainstream school and as diagnosed at 11.

Both children have always suffered with sleep difficulties but now with teenage hormones it is so much worse. We’ve tried Melatonin medication but that doesn’t seem to have worked in the past.

As they don’t sleep very well at night, when the alarms go off, it’s like trying to wake the dead. I spend almost the entire school day trying to wake them and get them into school.

Neither child enjoys school or sees it’s relevance in their future which makes this even more difficult.

I am self employed so as I can’t work during the day, I work evenings, nights and weekends which means I’m permanently exhausted.

We are currently on attendance monitoring as both children are missing a lot of school and I’m not sure what to try next.

I'm still not 100%b sure if my son is in the right school for him but as his attendance is so low I just don't know

I’m feeling so lost so I am hoping there is at least one person out there with teens who has some idea.

  • Firstly, You need to figure out what is keeping them up. Are they streaming, playing and communicating over the internet when they should be in bed. if so disable the internet at eight o'clock and do not give in. 

    Melatonin was a bad idea, it messes with Circadian rhythms in developing minds when not used approvability. Lights are also a issue, any screen that produces blue light has a negative effect on sleep. you may need to invest in blue light filter glasses and screens overlay and enforce their use.prolong use of screens during the day and blue light emitted affect sleep the night. 

    Bedrooms colour can also cause sleep issue. in a 2020 study they found children with autism and ADHD responded better in environments where the walls where shades of black, blue, green and purple and some children in the study performed better when in an environment with blue, green and purple lights 

  • Afraid I have no advice as difficulties here too. The thing that particularly struck a chord was not seeing the point of school in the future. He therefore doesn't see the point of things set up to help him.