Sleep in children with Asperger syndrome.

Paavonen et al. (2008) asked parents of 8- to young learners kids with Asperger syndrome about sleep. They used the Children’s Sleep Habits Questionnaire and compared answers to parents of typical kids.

The team also tracked how long each child slept with a simple wrist watch called an actigraph.

Over half of the Asperger group had big sleep problems. They took longer to fall asleep, woke more, and feared sleeping alone.

Actigraph data showed they slept 35 minutes less each night than typical peers.

Udhnani et al. (2025) extends this work to adults. They found anxiety and depression, not autism itself, drive poor sleep in autistic adults. The child finding looks different because kids rarely report mood issues the same way.

Wong et al. (2023) echo the 50 % sleep-disturbance rate in kids, but with FOXG1 syndrome. The number is almost identical, showing high sleep problems cut across many developmental diagnoses.

Barstein et al. (2021) also used the same parent questionnaire in dup15q syndrome and saw similar high scores, confirming the tool picks up sleep issues in varied genetic conditions.

If you work with autistic kids, always screen for sleep. Ask about bedtime resistance, night waking, and morning tiredness. Poor sleep can worsen daytime behavior and learning. A quick CSHQ at intake gives you a roadmap for medical referral or bedtime interventions.