Our free webinar series explores the questions that don't get asked often enough, and what becomes possible when we finally start asking them.
Each webinar includes a 30-minute Q&A, providing a unique opportunity to hear perspectives from families in similar situations, and to have your own questions heard.
Most children with autism and many children with ADHD have sleep problems. Some can’t settle in the evening and lie awake for hours. Others wake at 3 am, stay awake until 6, and then fall asleep again. Parents try a fixed bedtime routine, melatonin and blackout curtains. Often it ends with one parent, usually the mother, sleeping with the child permanently. A temporary fix for a few nights turns into months, sometimes years. Mothers are completely exhausted, with no time or energy left for themselves or their partner.
This webinar looks at why sleep is so often disrupted in children with ADHD and autism, and why adjusting the routine alone is sometimes not enough.
Poor sleep doesn’t affect only the child. It exhausts parents, wakes siblings, and gradually wears down the whole family.
Sleep is shaped by two things at once. The first is the body: the circadian rhythm and melatonin production, sensory sensitivity, nutrition, medication, and discomfort the child can’t describe. In my practice, I see that once digestion settles, children often start sleeping much better. The second is habits: what the child has learned about sleep, what evenings look like, and what happens when they wake at night.
One without the other is usually not enough. A behavioural plan doesn’t work while something is bothering the child, and a habit formed over months of poor sleep often stays even after the discomfort is gone. So we’ll look at sleep from both sides and show how to connect them.
Why sleep is often different in children with ADHD and autism: the circadian rhythm, melatonin, a nervous system that can’t settle in the evening, and sensory needs
How to tell that something is keeping your child awake at night, and the role of digestion and nutrition
What we know about melatonin, when it’s worth considering, and how ADHD medication affects sleep
How to make falling asleep easier and gradually teach your child to sleep on their own, so the parent can finally get some sleep
How to respond to night waking, long wakeful periods at night, and early-morning waking
How to combine care for the body and work on habits into one plan, and where to start
Downloadable webinar presentation
Access to the webinar recording
A certificate of attendance
Dita Chapman
Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) and specialist in children’s nutrition and digestive health, with over 20 years of international experience.
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