Sensory Processing Disorders in Children with Autism
July 24, 2009 by Chris
Filed under About Autism
Many children with autism suffer from sensory processing disorders, which mean they are extremely sensitive to various forms of sensory stimuli—such as touching, texture of food or clothing, lights and aromas—that, for most people, go unnoticed.
This is not necessarily true for many children with autism. According to the BBB Autism website, the three general kinds of sensory processing disorders are:
Tactile—based on a person’s sense of touch
Proprioceptive—based on where a person’s body is within a particular space
Vestibular—based on a person’s inner ear, and how it governs a person’s ability to interact with gravity and keep balance
For an autistic child with hyperactive sensory processing, this can lead to inappropriate social behaviors that can be very embarrassing for the parent. Additionally, this can drastically affect a child’s sleep pattern.
Most research indicates that a significant majority of children with autism have some type of sleep disorder. This can show itself in a variety of ways, such as having problems going to sleep, having problems staying asleep, or just waking up very early. For autistic children who have a hyperactive proprioceptive sensory disorder, there are a few tricks that can help the child go to sleep easier at night; one that parents are moving toward more often are weighted blankets.
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.
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.
Autistic Children and Sleep
July 20, 2009 by Chris
Filed under About Autism
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.
