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- A new study investigated how sleeping problems affected the development of children with autism.
- The study is the most extensive study yet to focus on sleep in autistic children.
- The children with sleeping problems developed more slowly than those with normal sleeping patterns.
Autistic children with sleeping problems develop more slowly than children on the spectrum who don't have sleeping problems, according to a new study.
The study published in the preprint server Medrxiv investigated the effect of sleep problems in children on the autism spectrum, as reported by their parents.
The research enrolled 7 069 two- to five-year-old children with autism. The children were divided into two groups. The first consisted of children with normal sleep patterns, and the second the children with sleeping problems. Parents downloaded an app that helped them record and submit their children's sleeping patterns every three months for three years.
The researchers further differentiated between participants with moderate and severe sleep problems. The children were matched with the control group based on age, gender, expressive language, receptive language, sociability, sensory awareness, and health.
Poorer cognitive function
The study is the largest and longest observational study to date on the effect of sleep problems in autistic children. The study found that those without sleep problems developed faster than those with sleep problems.
The study concluded that sleeping problems were linked to poorer cognitive function. Children who slept normally showed better expressive language, sociability, sensory awareness, and health.
"The results of this study support previous reports of a negative correlation between the presence of sleep problems and every aspect of a child's development," the researchers state.
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