SweetDreams Sleep Study for Children With Autism

Access to effective treatments for sleep disorders is a persistent challenge. This is due to the lack of trained clinicians as well as caregiver resources to seek out and utilize such critical services. The SweetDreams intervention will solve this problem with on-line delivery of educational materials and treatment strategies for an evidence-based intervention. It will be readily available to caregivers at any time and through multiple outlets such a computer, tablet, and telephone, modes of delivery favored by and effective for parents of children in this age group.

This adaptation will address key challenges to sleep health care for children with ASD: (1) Learning differences of children with ASD by incorporating intervention principles from the TEACHH model; (2) Overcome the challenge of treatment access due to the limited number of qualified providers by developing didactic videos for online and mobile device delivery (referred to as SweetDreams); and, (3) Responding to the NIH emphasis on developing "more effective interventions…by targeting interventions to the identified needs of community members," SweetDreams will use a dynamic process involving extensive collaboration with children, parents, developmental pediatricians, and other experts on youth with ASD.

Inclusion criteria

• have poor sleep health
• have a diagnosis of ASD

Exclusion criteria

• any regular sleep medication use (this does not include occasional over the counter sleep aid)
• known sleep apnea
• unstable major medical conditions (e.g. severe asthma, diabetes).