title: Behavioral parent training to address sleep disturbances in young children with autism spectrum disorder: a pilot trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  A large percentage of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have bedtime and sleep disturbances. However, the treatment of these disturbances has been understudied. The purpose of our study was to develop a manualized behavioral parent training (BPT) program for parents of young children with ASD and sleep disturbances and to test the feasibility, fidelity, and initial efficacy of the treatment in a small randomized controlled trial (RCT).
  
  
  METHODS
  Parents of a sample of 40 young children diagnosed with ASD with an average age of 3.5years were enrolled in our study. Participants were randomized to either the BPT program group or a comparison group who were given nonsleep-related parent education. Each participant was individually administered a 5-session program delivered over the 8-week study. Outcome measures of feasibility, fidelity, and efficacy were collected at weeks 4 and 8 after the baseline time point. Children's sleep was assessed by parent report and objectively by actigraphy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 20 participants in each group, data were available for 15 participants randomized to BPT and 18 participants randomized to the comparison condition. Results supported the feasibility of the manualized parent training program and the comparison program. Treatment fidelity was high for both groups. The BPT program group significantly improved more than the comparison group based on the primary sleep outcome of parent report. There were no objective changes in sleep detected by actigraphy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study is one of few RCTs of a BPT program to specifically target sleep disturbances in a well-characterized sample of young children with ASD and to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach. Initial efficacy favored the BPT program over the comparison group and suggested that this manualized parent training approach is worthy of further examination of the efficacy within a larger RCT.
authors.affiliation: University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Autism Center, 3420 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, United States. Electronic address: Cynthia.Johnson@chp.edu.
authors.forename: Cynthia R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Kylan S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Turner
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Foldes
authors.forename: Maria M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kronk
authors.forename: Luci
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wiggs
mesh_terms: D056044:Actigraphy; D001521:Behavior Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D002659:Child Development Disorders, Pervasive / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013812:Therapeutics
keywords: Autism; Autism spectrum disorders; Bedtime problems; Parent training; Sleep; Sleep disturbances; Sleep problems