Sleep patterns of children with pervasive developmental disorders.

Wimpory et al. (2002) tracked sleep in children with pervasive developmental disorders. They used parent diaries to log bedtime, wake time, and night wakings. The team compared these records to published norms for typically developing kids.

Kids with PDD took longer to fall asleep and woke up more often each night. Surprisingly, these problems showed up even when parents had not complained about sleep. The pattern held across the whole group, not just a few severe cases.

Meier et al. (2012) extends these findings by showing the trouble does not fade with age. Teens with ASD shift from bedtime battles to delayed sleep onset and daytime fatigue. Deserno et al. (2017) carries the story into adulthood, finding circadian rhythm disorders in adults with ASD who have average IQ.

Faso et al. (2016) adds a clinical twist: only repetitive sensory-motor behaviors, not insistence on sameness, link to worse sleep. This hints you can ease nights by targeting those specific behaviors.

Schwichtenberg et al. (2013) looks like a contradiction at first. Sleep problems predicted behavior issues in preschool siblings who did NOT have ASD. The difference is population: the 2002 paper describes kids already diagnosed; the 2013 paper shows sleep matters even before diagnosis.

Do not wait for parents to mention sleep. Add a five-item sleep check to every intake: latency, wakings, duration, daytime sleepiness, and timing. If scores are high, start simple bedtime routines first; later consider sensory-motor behavior plans. Early fixes can prevent the daytime irritability and learning drag that show up in older youth.