Better Nights, Better Days for Children With Neurodevelopment Disorders

Plain-language summary

More than 90% of children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD) experience sleep problems, whereas less than 25% of typically developing children experience sleep problems. Poor sleep can have significant consequences for children's physical and psychosocial health, as well their caregivers' well-being. The impact of sleep problems on daytime functioning is even greater in children with NDD. Although there are a range of factors that may disturb sleep in children with NDD, the most frequent cause of sleep disturbance is behavioural insomnia. There is some evidence that behavioural interventions can be effective in improving sleep in children with NDD. However, this has not been tested through well-designed, large-scale randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Moreover, there are a number of significant barriers to access for insomnia treatment for children; most importantly, sleep interventions are often only provided by specialists, limiting access to treatment services. Instead, behavioural insomnia is often treated with advice about sleep hygiene and with the supplement melatonin, which is, at best, a short-term solution. The investigators, an interdisciplinary team of researchers, will develop and evaluate the effectiveness of an online sleep intervention that will be widely accessible and sustainable and will have the potential to dramatically improve the health of children with NDD and their families.

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