Use of Melatonin as Sleep Aid for Children with Autism

Sleep disorders in children with autism are a consistent and pervasive problem. According to most studies, approximately 80 percent of children with autism have some sort of sleep disorder. (According to the University of California at Davis MIND Institute, up to 89 percent of autistic children have a sleep disorder.) There a number of different theories on ways to ease the transition into sleep for autistic children: having a nighttime ritual, consistent bedtime, and sensory integration, among others.

One way to aid sleep that is gaining traction is the use of melatonin. Melatonin is a natural hormone produced by the pineal gland (and regulated by serotonin) that governs a person’s sleep pattern. There has been some research that shows that many people with autism have a significant imbalance in their serotonin levels. When these serotonin levels are off, the body will have difficulty regulating the amount of melatonin produced by the pineal gland. This may be one reason why many children with autism have difficulties sleeping.

Recently, there was a small study (12 children) regarding the potential use of melatonin as a sleep aid published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (April 15, 2009) that showed some potential. For this small sample, children ranging from 2 to 15 years old took melatonin for two weeks and a placebo for two weeks. Overall, the study showed some promise.  Read more...

Beginning Autism Awareness

At least three out of every 1,000 children are born with autism; and yet there is not a great deal known about these autistic children by society at large beyond the continued portrayal of our children as being alternately idiot-savants (like Raymond in the movie Rain Man) or verbally incoherent, barely being able to make animal-like grunts. Parents with autistic children know that both of these classic stereotypes are very far from the truth.

Sadly, these stereotypes often hamper the treatment and care that children with autism receive in the community. Therefore, it is important that the general public be educated about autism or else negative connotations and Hollywood-constructed archetypes will continue to be the norm, not the exception.

As such, tired and exhausted though you may be from the day-to-day grind of raising your autistic child, it is still important that we all act to make sure that people understand our children in order for them to have better lives.

Most people are not ready to run a year-round, sophisticated, public relations campaign in order to make our town and city peers aware of what we face every day. However, Congress set aside April as Autism Awareness Month. Therefore, as you seek to increase the quality of life for you and your child, there are some specific steps that you can take to help raise awareness one month per year.  Read more...

Quick Tips to Get Your Autistic Child Asleep

Most studies indicate that between 40 to 80% of children with autism have sleep disorders. This means that an autistic child might have problems falling asleep, waking too early, or wake periodically in the middle of the night. As a parent, you are aware of these issues as well as the fact that no one really knows why autistic children have trouble sleeping.

What researchers know is that it can seriously hamper your child’s health…as well as your own. On average, a 3- to 6-year-old child needs approximately 10 to 12 hours of sleep per night. Many children with autism do not get the requisite hours of sleep, whether it’s due to an inability to read social cues (such as their siblings getting ready for bed); or may it’s because children with autism have a different internal clock.

Perhaps it has to do with a deficiency in melatonin production within the body due to low serotonin levels—there are currently a number of studies researching how melatonin affects the sleep patterns of children with autism. To date, the studies are encouraging but hardly all encompassing. Other reasons for an inability to fall asleep (or stay asleep) may relate to an autistic child’s sensitivity to outside stimuli or even a child’s reaction to that stimuli resulting in anxiety.  Read more...

Parents With Autistic Children Are Not Alone

You and your wife are at a cocktail party. Men and women divide, equally and normally along gender lines. Soon, the conversation turns from work and the economy to how the family is doing. You hate this conversation. As the circle begins to close in around you, you take a step back so that you are on the outside.

One friend brags about how his precious little Brittany is already sleeping through the night at 3½ months. Another friend starts talking about how he is sure that his precocious prodigy, Biff, will be a phenomenal athlete and scholar and he knows this because Biff is way advanced for a 2-year-old and he knows because he read an article once…that would be your friend who read the article, not Biff. Although if you ask your friend, he is certain that Biff can read because he held up a card on your birthday and said, “Dadadadada” meaning that the card was for dad, even though your friend’s name is, Hampton, so…yeah.

You listen quietly, still meekly standing on the outside of the circle while your friends brag about how great their children are. You aren’t sure what to say, because your child is autistic.  Read more...

Autistic Children and Sleep

Autistic Children and Sleep

Research indicates that autistic children have trouble sleeping. According to the Autism Society of American, “Most parents have had some experience with an autistic child who has difficulty falling asleep, wakes up frequently during the night, or only sleeps a few hours each night.”

As parents of autistic children know, troublesome sleeping patterns can affect a child’s ability to learn, communicate, and control emotions. Therefore, it’s important to work on establishing some bedtime habits to quiet and calm a child and prepare him or her for a good night’s sleep. After telling a child “It’s time to go to bed,” try to establish a bedtime ritual that your child relates to for preparing to sleep. For example, bath time or story time can be good and effective ways to help calm a child. In many cases, autistic children like and even thrive on the rituals and patterns in their lives, therefore, creating “events” that a child associates with bedtime might help him or her become accustomed to a series of events that lead to bedtime each night. Any bedtime rituals for an autistic child should be calming in nature. Avoid playtime, games, computers, and television while preparing your child for sleep.  Read more...

Overview

Loving and caring parents developed this bed after spending countless nights awake with an autistic child. This unique bed allows your child to be surrounded by safety while giving you the peace of mind to get a good night’s rest.

“This bed allows my wife and I the opportunity to sleep through the night because we know that Noah is safe and happy. This bed has literally changed our lives as well as Noah’s. I cannot imagine my life the last two years with out this bed!!!” – Matt Volk – Noah’s World Bed Creator

• Do you have a child that has a diagnosis in the Autism Spectrum that prevents them from sleeping a “normal” amount?
• Do you have to be up all hours of the night to make sure that your child is safe?
• Are you one of the thousands of parents suffering from sleep deprivation right now?

If you have a child that needs care throughout the night, this bed was made for you!  Read more...

Autism and At-Risk Behaviors

Autism and At-Risk Behaviors

Classical autism, a subgroup of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASDs), is a complex, neurological disorder generally occurring with the first three years of life. According to a Mayo Clinic Report, approximately three to six children out of 1,000 have autism. However, it’s possible that ratio is even greater. We do know that the numbers have gone up dramatically over the last quarter century.

Researchers are still not entirely sure of the reason for the dramatic increase in diagnoses of autism, although quite a few believe that it is actually a sign of doctor’s becoming more aware and diagnosing the disorder properly. Whatever the case, autism still is shrouded in mystery, and leaders in the autism research field are still trying to determine what causes autism.

What they do know, however, is that there are certain indications that will show a child is in the “at risk” category. Few doctors will diagnose a child with autism before the age of three due to a wide variance in normal human development. However, there are certain signs of autism that can be observed prior to age three that will put a child in the at risk category. They are:  Read more...

Resources for Parents

Resources for Parents

In the “old days” (say, before the mid-1990s), there was no such thing as the internet. When a person wanted to find out information, he or she put on hiking boots and started the long uphill walk (both ways in the snow) to the local community library. Once there, he or she had to look for resources and information in a card catalogue, which directed people to various books throughout the library. Of course, libraries continue to be great free resources of information.

Today, we also have the world wide web and all of the resources that are associated with it. Luckily, most libraries have internet connections so new resources and research are also available to everyone—even if you do not have internet access in your home. As autism gains recognition, there are more and more websites devoted to general information about the disorder. Even better, institutions and colleges that used to be virtually off limits to the general public, now throw open their virtual doors allowing hoi polloi to browse their voluminous tomes of information and research.  Read more...

Raising a Child with Autism

Raising a Child with Autism

My grandmother rarely talks about raising her third son, who was autistic. He was defined as autistic almost before there was a classical definition for autism. My dad and uncles remember what life was like having an autistic child in the family. The attention was taken away from them, and they witnessed lots of their brother’s temper tantrums. They also remember my grandfather gently cooing, in the hopes that he could calm him down at night, “Mikey Pete, Mikey Pete, you’re so sweet, don’t rock that seat.” Sadly, it never quite settled down their brother.

Ultimately, my grandparents were unable to take care of my uncle, and they sent him away to a state institution, as many other parents of autistic children did in the late 1950s and early 1960s. This was before Sen. Robert F. Kennedy stood on the steps of Willowbrook calling the institution “criminal.” They didn’t know how awful it was. Once they did, it was too late.  Read more...

Getting Good Night’s Sleep with Autistic Children

Getting Good Night’s Sleep with Autistic Children

It’s 2 a.m.; do you know where your child is? For many parents of children with autism, the answer could very well be, “No.” As more and more funding comes from the federal government and private donors to research autism, leaders in the field are figuring out what many parents already know: frequently, children who are diagnosed with autism are unable to sleep.

Whether it’s because your child cannot go to sleep or because he or she wakes up intermittently throughout the night, your child is just not going to sleep… and as a result, neither are you. Both of you are well under the time required to have what is considered a good night sleep (approximately 10 hours for your child, and just about 8 hours for you). You’re practically worn down to a nub while your child is just as hyper as he or she was the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that, etc.  Read more...

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