Research: Assessment and Pharmacologic Treatment of Sleep Disturbance in Autism

Authored by Johnson, KP, and Malow BA in Child Adolesc Psychiatric Clin N Am, Volume 17, Issue 4, p. 773-785, (2008).

Article summary (posted Jan 30, 2009):

Behavior therapy such as applied behavior analysis (ABA therapy) and drug therapy such as melatonin or sedatives may help in the treatment of sleep problems associated with autism.

Children with autism often have trouble sleeping. It appears that some of the brain problems that cause autism may also cause the sleep problems that are often found with autism. These sleep problems can add to daytime behavior and mood problems. Therefore, doctors are starting to realize that treating the sleep problems of autism may help in the treatment of some of the core symptoms of autism. This review article describes the treatment of sleep problems in children with autism.

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You can access the original abstract and the complete paper is sometimes available for free via Google Scholar (look for entries that say "PDF" or "HTML" on the right side of the page).
applied behavior analysis (ABA), assessment, autism, doctor, drug, melatonin, mood, psychiatric, review article, sedative, sleep, sleep disorder, sleeping, therapy, treatment
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