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Sleep problems effect on developmental trajectories in children with autism

The effect of sleep problems in 2- to 5-year-old children with ASD was investigated in the largest and the longest observational study to-date. Parents assessed the development of 7069 children quarterly for three years on five orthogonal subscales: receptive language, expressive language, sociability, sensory awareness, and health. Moderate and severe sleep problems were reported in 13% of children. Children with no sleep problems developed faster compared to matched children with sleep problems in all subscales. The greatest difference in trajectories was detected in the health subscale. When controlling for the health score (in addition to each subscale score at baseline as well as gender and severity), the effect of sleep problems decreased in all subscales except the combinatorial receptive language subscale (where the effect of sleep problems was increased), suggesting that sleep problems affect combinatorial language acquisition irrespective of the overall health. This study confirms a high prevalence of sleep problems in ASD children and points to the need for more systematic research as an initial step in developing treatment strategies.