Brief report: a "storybook" ending to children's bedtime problems--the use of a rewarding social story to reduce bedtime resistance and frequent night waking.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the efficacy and acceptability of a social story with tangible rewards to reduce children's disruptive bedtime behavior and frequent night waking.


METHODS
Four children (ages 2 to 7), with clinically significant disruptive bedtime behavior, received the intervention, which consisted of a social story (The Sleep Fairy) that sets forth (a) parental expectations for appropriate bedtime behavior and (b) rewards for meeting those expectations.


RESULTS
Parent sleep diaries indicated that children had a 78% average decrease in frequency of disruptive bedtime behaviors from baseline to intervention, with another 7% decrease at 3-month follow-up. Night wakings, a problem for 2 children during baseline, were not a problem during intervention and follow-up. Parents reported improved daytime behavior for 3 of the 4 children. Parents gave the intervention high acceptability ratings and maintained a high level of treatment fidelity.


CONCLUSIONS
Use of a social story helped parents implement a multicomponent intervention using a familiar bedtime routine, thereby increasing the likelihood that implementation and effects occurred. The book format makes this intervention widely available to parents and professionals, with minimal costs and inconvenience.
Burke
Raymond V
RV
Girls and Boys Town, Nebraska, and University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68010, USA. burker@girlsandboystown.org
Kuhn
Brett R
BR
Peterson
Jane L
JL
D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000517:prevention & control; D001638:Bibliotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D002652:Child Behavior / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D006801:Humans; D012054:Reinforcement, Psychology; D012201:Reward; D013009:Somnambulism / Q000517:prevention & control*