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Bedtime

NAS75657

At the moment my Son is going to sleep late and waking early, despite our best efforts to get him into bed. I think the days being lighter for longer doesn’t help. He’d had a bad day yesterday which caused him to be unsettled. Is this an ASD problem or is this just typical of most children? . If it’s an ASD problem how can you address it? 

Parents

  • There's not enough information here to sufficiently help! How old is he? Do you have black out or heavy dark curtains for his windows? Is he exposed to LEDs at night or do you have one halogen lamp in his room for bed time (yes, they are still legal for light sensitive individuals and I'd suggest all humans should be, but autistic individuals even more so, see: lightaware.org). If he's young, do you read him to sleep at night (older classics without pictures like Paddington or The Little Prince for ex.). The mind can start to race and become excited, so focusing and re-directing one's thoughts on an imaginative story where no problem-solving is required is really important. Excitement is the same mechanism in the brain as Anxiety. 

    Autistic children will naturally be more light sensitive, as they aren't able to dull the senses like NeuroTypical individuals. So, LEDs can keep them up as many have a very high concentration of UV (daylight) and absolutely no IR (evening light). Filament bulbs mimic the sun and the sun does not give off the same wavelength as CFLs and LEDs, which are unnatural. Autistic children can also have hyper-active minds, they can be problem-solving all kinds of things on a normal basis. It is one part of our natural abilities, which if matured and disciplined properly, can make us specialists. As children, we need affirmation and aid sifting through and summarising whatever we might be 'trouble-shooting'. Any unresolved issues will keep us WIDE awake. For Autistic individuals, children to adults, putting a thing 'aside' won't ever help but it will compound the frustration. If we are working on a giant problem, we need to learn to break it into hyper-focused steps, so we can make satisfactory daily progress.  

    My son (in his 20's) sometimes puts a T shirt over his eyes - he's not a fan of sleep masks. And I've read doctors who make sure to get sufficient darkness as blue light interferes with our circadian rhythm. 

  • in reply to JuniperFromGallifrey

    He is nearly six. We have black out blinds which we use. No Halogen lamp though. I read to him but I read picture books to him. If a number of things have upset him that day is it worth trying to reassure him if I can about them? Yesterday his new 1:1 TA who he only met on Monday went home unwell. He liked her and had started to form a bond with her, as a result did very well that day. Then we took him to have his haircut usually ok with it, but it was too hot and noisy for him. This resulted in a meltdown when he got home.Is it possible to help him work through these? 

  • in reply to NAS75657

    Thank you for answering previously 

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