Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2024 Aug;54(8):2926-2945.
doi: 10.1007/s10803-023-06026-2. Epub 2023 Jun 26.

A Practice Pathway for the Treatment of Night Wakings in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Anjalee W Galion  1 , Justin G Farmer  2 , Heidi V Connolly  3 , Virginia D Allhusen  4 , Amanda Bennett  5 , Daniel L Coury  6 , Janet Lam  7 , Ann M Neumeyer  2   8 , Kristin Sohl  9 , Manisha Witmans  10 , Beth A Malow  11 ; Autism Treatment Network/Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health (ATN/AIR-P) Sleep Committee
Affiliations
Review

A Practice Pathway for the Treatment of Night Wakings in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Anjalee W Galion et al. J Autism Dev Disord. 2024 Aug.

Abstract

Children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) report high rates of sleep problems. In 2012, the Autism Treatment Network/ Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health (ATN/AIR-P) Sleep Committee developed a pathway to address these concerns. Since its publication, ATN/AIR-P clinicians and parents have identified night wakings as a refractory problem unaddressed by the pathway. We reviewed the existing literature and identified 76 scholarly articles that provided data on night waking in children with ASD. Based on the available literature, we propose an updated practice pathway to identify and treat night wakings in children with ASD.

Keywords: Autism spectrum disorder; Night wakings; Sleep initiation; Sleep maintenance; Sleep problems; Treatment for insomnia.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Daniel Coury is on advisory boards for BioRosa, Cognoa, GW Biosciences, Quadrant Biosciences and Stalicla; and has received research grant support from GW Biosciences, Stalicla and Stemina Biosciences. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Practice Pathway
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Aathira, R., Gulati, S., Tripathi, M., Shukla, G., Chakrabarty, B., Sapra, S., Dang, N., Gupta, A., Kabra, M., & Pandey, R. M. (2017). Prevalence of sleep abnormalities in indian children with autism spectrum disorder: A cross-sectional study. Pediatric Neurology,74, 62–67. 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2017.05.019 10.1016/j.pediatrneurol.2017.05.019 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Abel, E. A., Schwichtenberg, A. J., Brodhead, M. T., & Christ, S. L. (2018). Sleep and challenging behaviors in the context of intensive behavioral intervention for children with autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,48(11), 3871–3884. 10.1007/s10803-018-3648-0 10.1007/s10803-018-3648-0 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Adkins, K. W., Molloy, C., Weiss, S. K., Reynolds, A., Goldman, S. E., Burnette, C., Clemons, T., Fawkes, D., & Malow, B. A. (2012). Effects of a standardized pamphlet on insomnia in children with autism spectrum disorders. Pediatrics,130(Suppl 2), 139–144. 10.1542/peds.2012-0900K 10.1542/peds.2012-0900K - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allik, H., Larsson, J.-O., & Smedje, H. (2006). Insomnia in school-age children with Asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. BMC Psychiatry,6, 18. 10.1186/1471-244X-6-18 10.1186/1471-244X-6-18 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Allik, H., Larsson, J. O., & Smedje, H. (2006b). Sleep patterns of school-age children with asperger syndrome or high-functioning autism. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders,36(5), 585–595. 10.1007/s10803-006-0099-9 10.1007/s10803-006-0099-9 - DOI - PubMed