Predicting future sleep problems in young autistic children.

Vassos et al. (2023) tracked autistic children aged two to five for future sleep trouble. They asked parents about self-injury, sensory issues, dental pain, and family education level.

The team used these early signs to predict which kids would later have sleep problems.

Kids who hurt themselves, were extra sensitive to sound or touch, had tooth pain, or had parents with less school were the ones who later slept badly.

These four red flags showed up before the sleep issues started.

Ferguson et al. (2025) asked 1,892 families and found the same link: self-injury plus distress over routine change spells trouble. Their big sample backs the toddler finding.

Waldron et al. (2023) looked at 730 autistic adults. For them, poor health and anxiety predicted bad sleep, not early self-injury. The predictors change with age.

Greene et al. (2019) flipped the question in adults: bad sleep later killed quality of life. Together the papers draw a line—catch sleep risk early, treat it fast, and check again across the lifespan.

You now have a quick four-item checklist for intake: self-biting, sensory overload, dental pain, parent school years. Flag any hit and move sleep to the top of the behavior plan. Start parent sleep education right away—Laugeson et al. (2014) proved it cuts bedtime delays. Track again each year because the risk factors grow up with the child.