Autism and Sleep
Understanding the links between autism and sleep ›
Tips for improving sleep for children with autism ›
Seeking help from a healthcare professional ›
Frequently asked questions ›
The majority of children with autism experience sleep disorders.
Problems include difficulty falling asleep, frequent and prolonged wakenings, shorter consolidated (uninterrupted) sleep, shorter sleep duration or extremely early rising.
Sleep issues go hand in hand with daytime behaviours and can affect quality of life for the entire family. Having both a bedroom environment and daily routines that promote consistent, uninterrupted sleep (often called sleep hygiene) can help, and specialists have created parent-guided programmes to help improve sleep in children with ASD.
In some cases, children with significant sleep disturbances may need to be evaluated by a sleep specialist.
Practical tools for parents
A selection of practical tools to monitor and improve the sleep of children with autism spectrum disorders.
SNappD – The Sleep Nap App Diary
A simple-to-use app for monitoring children’s sleep
Bedtime Routine
Cut, colour, order your personalised bedtime routine
My Sleep Card
A tool to help children learn to fall back to sleep on their own
SNappD – The Sleep Nap App Diary
A simple-to-use app for
monitoring children’s sleep
Bedtime Routine
Cut, colour, order your
personalised bedtime routine
My Sleep Card
A tool to help children learn to fall back to sleep on their own
Understanding the links between autism and sleep ›
Tips for improving sleep for children with autism ›
Seeking help from a healthcare professional ›
Frequently asked questions ›
UK/FLY/2023/2386 March 2023