Caregivers

As parents, you often know when your child is having difficulty sleeping but it can be difficult to know whether it is a cause for concern, and how best to support them. Understanding your child’s sleep is the first step in determining the best way to provide support to improve their sleep.

This module covers:

The importance of sleep

Types of sleep difficulties

Tools to understand and monitor your child’s sleep

How to make sense of your child’s difficulties

Understanding how much sleep your child needs, and when they should be sleeping, can be difficult. The focus of this module is on how to select a developmentally appropriate bed- and wake-time (i.e., sleep schedule), and the steps that you can take to reach that goal.

This module covers:

The role of circadian rhythms and sleep pressure

Recommended sleep times

A faded bedtime procedure

When addressing sleep difficulties, it is important to start by getting the basics right. In many cases, this means starting by addressing ‘sleep hygiene’. Sleep hygiene is a term commonly used to refer to the day and night-time habits that may affect your child’s sleep. This can include the bedroom environment, bedtime routine, and even daytime activities.

This module covers:

Features of good sleep hygiene

The importance of a consistent bedtime routine and environment

The importance of a relaxing bedtime routine and environment

Sensory considerations

An important consideration for any sleep programme, is how we can help children to learn the skills they need to fall asleep independently and remain asleep throughout night. There are a number of strategies and tools you can use to facilitate this. These should be adapted to your child’s needs, interests, strengths and preferences.

This module covers:

The use of visual supports

The use of other teaching aides such as sleep stories and rewards

In order to fall asleep, we need to achieve a state of behavioural, emotional, and cognitive calm – essentially this means assuming our typical sleep position, having a calm emotional state, and a quiet mind. Children often have active minds and/or worries. As a result, they may struggle to fall asleep. There are many strategies that can be used to promote relaxation, which are the focus of this module.

This module covers:

Deep breathing

Progressive muscle relaxation

Grounding

Imagery

Worry time

Self-encouragement

Safety symbols

Supports to facilitate these strategies

Ensuring appropriate sensory supports, visual cues, sleep schedules and sleep hygiene can support children to sleep well and may be sufficient for many sleep programmes. However, it is also important to consider what you as a caregiver do or don’t do in response to certain sleep-related difficulties and whether this may unintentionally contribute to or maintain them. This may help you to understand why certain sleep-interfering behaviours might be occurring and to create a plan to address them.

This module covers:

Responding to sleep-related behaviour

Strategies for altering your responses

Selecting the best strategies for your child and family

Once you have some understanding of your child’s sleep difficulties, including potential contributing factors, you can create an individualised (and adaptable) support plan. There are several important steps and factors to consider in this process. These are the focus of this module.

This module covers:

Steps in creating a sleep support plan

Important considerations before commencing the sleep plan