Excessive daytime sleep: behavioral assessment and intervention in a child with autism.

A 13-year-old boy with autism kept falling asleep at his desk. Teachers asked for help.

The BCBA used an ABAB reversal design. Staff gave praise and stickers for staying awake. They also dimmed lights during lessons and added quick movement breaks.

The team tracked daytime sleep minutes across school days. They ran the plan, removed it, then brought it back to be sure the plan was the cause.

Daytime sleep dropped to zero while the plan was in place. It stayed at zero six months later.

The student also finished more classwork and talked more with peers.

McLay et al. (2021) later tested the same idea with 41 families at home. They added a quick sleep assessment and taught parents to deliver the plan. Their larger set now guides most ABA sleep work, so the 2008 study is seen as an early building block.

Sirao et al. (2026) pooled all autism sleep studies and found exercise beats both pills and behavior plans for night-time sleep. This sounds like a clash, but Li looked at night sleep while Abby looked at daytime sleep. Different target, different fix.

Magaña et al. (2013) ran a close cousin study with toddlers at home. Both papers show the same big idea: small, tailored ABA packages can erase sleep problems fast.

You can fix daytime sleep without meds or fancy gear. Train staff to watch for drowsy cues, give quick praise, and tweak the room. Start with a short reversal to prove it works. Share the graph with teachers so they see the change. If the student also has night issues, add exercise or parent training shown in newer papers.