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Article
Treating sleep terrors in children with autism.
USF St. Petersburg campus Faculty Publications
  • V. Mark Durand
SelectedWorks Author Profiles:

V. Mark Durand

Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2002
Disciplines
Abstract

Sleep terrors manifest themselves as a sudden arousal from slow wave sleep accompanied by screaming, crying, and other signs of intense fear. Children with autism spectrum disorders may be more likely to display problems with sleep, and some children experience such sleep difficulties as sleep terrors on a chronic basis. This nighttime disruption can lead to a great deal of concern, as well as disruption in sleep for other family members. In this first study of the treatment of sleep terrors among children with autism, the effectiveness of one behavioral intervention (scheduled awakenings) was evaluated. Scheduled awakenings involved arousing the child from sleep approximately 30 minutes before an expected sleep terror episode. Results through a 12-month follow-up using a multiple baseline across three children indicated that this intervention quickly and durably reduced the frequency of their nighttime difficulties. Scheduled awakenings is a potentially useful nonmedical intervention for chronic sleep terrors among children with autism.

Comments
Abstract only. Full-text article is available only through licensed access provided by the publisher. Published in Journal of Positive Behavioral Interventions, 4, 66-72. doi: 10.1177/109830070200400201
Language
en_US
Publisher
Sage
Creative Commons License
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0
Citation Information
Durand, V.M. (2002). Treating sleep terrors in children with autism. Journal of Positive Behavioral Interventions, 4, 66-72. doi: 10.1177/109830070200400201