Sleep is essential for good physical and mental health. In children, teenagers and young adults sleep is very important for healthy brain development. Poor sleep can have profound and far-reaching effects on a family, impacting not just individual well-being but also the overall dynamics of the household. Poor sleep is often linked to difficulties in attention and memory, irritability and mood swings, which can lead to tension and conflicts in the family. While medication can really help, issues like adverse effects or long-term use tolerance, may not make it an appropriate long-term solution. Furthermore, in some cases, medication is only effective when used alongside behavioural interventions.
What factors can influence sleep?
- Physiological factors: diet, medical conditions, pain, etc.
- Emotional wellbeing, especially anxiety
- Routine
- Sleep associations
- Environment, e.g. light, noise, distracting items, etc.
- Sensory needs
What sleep problems can I help with?
- Difficulties getting to sleep
- Difficulties staying in bed
- Waking up in the night
- Waking up too early in the morning
- Night-time fears
- Night-time separation anxiety
Who can I help?
I work with neurodiverse children aged 2-18 years old who are having difficulties with their behaviour and/or their sleep.
Most of my experience has been with children on the autism spectrum and learning disabilities, however I have also worked with people with other disabilities including Down’s syndrome, fragile X, and Prader Willy syndrome among others.
Sorry I’m unable to help children who present significant mental health conditions or whose sleep problems are mainly linked to trauma. In this case I recommend you reaching out to CAMHS (I know their waiting list is insane!) or local organisations that support children with mental health or trauma. I am also not able to help families whose difficulties are mainly of a social or financial nature. In this case, please reach out to your local council as they will be more able to help.
Structure
- After you submit your contact form, I’ll get back to you via e-mail to arrange a free initial 15 min phone call so I can have an overview on your situation and decide whether I’m a good fit to help you reach your goals.
- If we decide to work together, the next step is doing an assessment. I’ll be sending you some questionnaires to complete and I’ll ask you to record a some videos of the child’s sleep problems. The forms and the videos need to be sent to me before the next videocall so I can review them.
- We’ll have a videocall where I’ll be sharing my thoughts on the questionnaires and the videos I’ve received and decide whether we need to make further assessments or we are ready to start drafting a sleep plan.
- Once I have all the information I need, I’ll design a personalised sleep plan and provide other advice to help address the sleep difficulties.
- We’ll have a videocall where I’ll be sharing the plan and the advice, and you’ll tell me what you think of it. After our conversation I’ll make any changes that we agree and e-mail it back to you.
- After this, I strongly recommend reviewing the sleep plan and the advice, as sometimes we need to make changes or parents need further guidance on the implementation of the plan.
- Once the parents feel confident they can continue to follow the sleep plan and my advice without guidance, we’ll say each other goodbye.
*Please make sure you can meet the requirements for this service before requesting it.