Case study: A case-series evaluation of a behavioral sleep intervention for three children with autism and primary insomnia.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the effectiveness of a manualized multi-component behavioral sleep intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and primary insomnia.


METHODS
Three children (2 males and 1 female, aged 8-9 years) participated. The intervention consisted of a treatment handbook for parents; a distance treatment approach was used in which parents had weekly telephone contact with a therapist. The main behavioral strategies employed were Faded Bedtime with Response Cost and positive reinforcement. Within a case-series design, both subjective (parent-report questionnaires and sleep diaries) and objective (actigraphy) measures were used to record changes in children's sleep and daytime behavior.


RESULTS
For all 3 children, mean sleep onset latency was reduced following the intervention. These improvements were generally maintained at follow-up 12 weeks later.


CONCLUSIONS
The current study provides preliminary evidence for the effectiveness of a manualized behavioral sleep intervention program for improving insomnia in children with ASD.
Moon
Erin C
EC
Dalhousie University, 1355 Oxford Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia, B3H 4J1, Canada.
Corkum
Penny
P
Smith
Isabel M
IM
D056044:Actigraphy; D001321:Autistic Disorder / Q000150:complications*; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome