Outcome Measures for Clinical Trials in Down Syndrome.
Use the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire for Down syndrome—it outperformed two rival surveys on validity and reliability.
01Research in Context
What this study did
The team tested three parent sleep surveys in kids with Down syndrome. They wanted to know which one gives the clearest picture.
Parents filled out the CSHQ, BEDS, and SDSC. Researchers checked which lined up best with real sleep issues.
What they found
The Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire won. It scored highest on validity and reliability.
BEDS and SDSC were weaker. CSHQ is the tool to trust for this group.
How this fits with other research
Greene et al. (2019) later used the same CSHQ in Korean kids with Down syndrome. They found four out of five had sleep trouble. This extends the 2017 work into an East-Asian sample and links poor sleep to lower parent quality of life.
McCavert et al. (2026) used the SDSC in kids with cerebral palsy and saw high sleep problems. Their SDSC choice matches one of the weaker tools in the 2017 study, showing why picking the right survey matters.
Lecavalier et al. (2006) validated the DASH-II sleep subscale in severe ID. Both papers push for psychometric checks before using any sleep checklist.
Why it matters
If you screen sleep in Down syndrome, grab the CSHQ. It is free, parent-friendly, and now has the strongest evidence. One copy at intake can flag issues early and save hours of guesswork.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
BACKGROUND: Behavioural sleep disturbances are common among children with Down syndrome (DS). However, tools used to detect and evaluate behavioural sleep disturbances were developed for typically developing children and have not been evaluated for use among children with DS. The current study evaluates the psychometric properties of three measures of behavioural sleep disturbances that are currently being used with children with intellectual and developmental disabilities, including children with DS. METHOD: Caregivers of 30 children with DS rated their child's sleep with the Behavioral Evaluation of Disorders of Sleep (BEDS), Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ) and Sleep Disturbances Scale for Children (SDSC). Caregivers also provided information on sleep diagnoses and completed a 7-night sleep and behaviour diary. RESULTS: The study investigated the rate of detecting sleep problems, internal consistency, and convergent and concurrent validity of the BEDS, CSHQ and SDSC. Children with DS were reported to exhibit behavioural sleep disturbances at different rates depending on the measure used; 0% BEDS, 79.3% CSHQ and 17.2% SDSC. Internal consistency was comparable for all three measures for their total scores. However, when evaluating the internal consistency of subscale scores, those on the CSHQ and SDSC performed more strongly. The subscales of the CSHQ performed best when evaluating convergent and concurrent validity, with the SDSC subscales performing moderately well. CONCLUSION: The study findings suggest that, among children with DS, the CSHQ and its subscales performed in a psychometrically sound and theoretically appropriate manner in relation to other measures of sleep, medical history of sleep problems, and daily reports of sleep and associated behaviours. The SDSC performed moderately well. When evaluating behavioural sleep disturbances among children with DS, the CSHQ is recommended based on its stronger psychometric properties.
American journal on intellectual and developmental disabilities, 2017 · doi:10.1136/adc.2008.146845