Question:
Searching for in-depth info on sleep disorder in autism. The only way our son
gets to sleep is with chloral hydrate. Otherwise, it takes hours for him to
fall asleep and then he only sleeps one or two hours. For our sanity, we
prefer the chloral hydrate. His new psychiatrist wants a referral to a sleep
specialist because she is nervous about the chloral hydrate. (He has a normal
liver panel). I think a sleep specialist is going to say "the kid has autism.
Bad effect on his sleep." In other words that we'll be wasting our time.
Anyone else using meds for an autistic child with severe sleep issues? We
tried Mellaril, Melatonin, Valerian, Clonidine.....
Answer:
You may find some useful info. in _Sleep_Better!_, by Durand (published in
the fall of 1997). It's about sleep problems, and concentrates on those
of kids with special needs. I gather that autism per se doesn't cause
sleep problems, but that many kids with autism also have sleep problems.
There's an appendix at the back of the book with a directory of centers of
sleep specialists, and a list of useful Web sites, etc. Borders in
Philadelphia, PA didn't have it, but they ordered it for me.
