An evaluation of the Sleeping Sound program on children's sleep difficulties in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Intellectual Disability.

INTERVENTION: Parents who register their interest in participating in this study will be contacted to complete a screening survey over the phone to determine whether their child is eligible to participate in this study. This phone survey will take approximately 20 mins to complete. If a child is eligible for this study and their parent provides written consent, their parent will be asked to complete an online baseline survey about their child’s autism and sleep, and about the child and family’s wellbeing. This will take about 40 minutes to do. Once the research team has received the survey response, participants will be randomly placed in one of two groups. What the participant does next will depend on which group they are allocated to (usual care or the Sleeping Sound Program intervention‐ a behavioural sleep intervention) • Sleeping Sound Program Group If they are allocated to the Sleeping Sound Program Group, the research team will offer the participant three 50 minute face to face sessions and one phone call with a clinician who has been trained to help manage children’s sleep problems. The first face to face session will be used to gather an understanding of the child's bedtime routine and their parent's goals for their child's sleep. Parents will also be provided with education about good sleep hygiene practices and the importance of a good sleep routine for their children and will be given instructions of how to complete a sleep diary and prepare a behavioural sleep program. The second face to face session will be one week after the first consultation session and will involve discussing the use of the child's behavioural sleep program. The completed sleep diary will also be discussed to identify sleep challenges. Families will then be provided with any of the additional handouts required to assist with the specific sleep difficulties. The phone call will then happen 2 weeks after the second consultation session to check in on parent's progress and trouble shoot any difficulties. The third face to face consultation will then occur 2 weeks after the phone call. This will be used to discuss which strategies are working or not working and to provide parents will final information about sleep strategies and the potential of an 'extinction burst' occurring. Each of the sessions will be free of charge. All sessions will occur at Deakin University. The research team will then send participants surveys to complete in 3, 6 and 12 months’ time. Each survey asks about the child’s ASD and sleep, and child and family wellbeing and will take about 40 minutes to fill out. In the survey post intervention sessions, parents will also be asked about their use of the intervention handouts provided by clinicians and also how helpful these handouts were. CONDITION: Autism Spectrum Disorder Intellectual Disability Sleep problems PRIMARY OUTCOME: Parent reports of child sleep problems (measured by the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire) INCLUSION CRITERIA: Parents of children who meet the following criteria will be eligible: * Diagnosis of DSM‐IV Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s Disorder or DSM‐5 ASD, as indicated by paediatrician or a confirmed diagnosis as cited in a clinical report AND • Aged 6‐13 years AND • A score above the clinical cut off (11 or more) on the Social Communication Questionnaire Lifetime form (10 minutes completion time) AND • Child has an intellectual disability which will be confirmed by siting a diagnostic/clini A number of handouts (depending on what the family requires) will be used to help parents with implementing sleep hygiene practices at home. These handouts provide information about specific techniques that can be used to encourage good bedtime routines and how parents can implement these at home. These handouts refer to Bedtime Fading, Bedtime Resistance, Calming Strategies, 'Camping out', Checking Methods, Early Morning Waking Management, Prolonged Night time Awakenings, Sleep Association Management and Rewards, All families will be given an individualised behavioural sleep program for their child to follow at home. This will involve parents taking pictures of their children going through their bedtime routine at home, according to effective sleep hygiene practices discussed with their clinician, and researchers putting this together in a booklet so that the children can see themselves going through their bedtime routine in their own environment. This will be planned in their first session and given to families to use at their second session. SECONDARY OUTCOME: 4 study developed questions comparing child’s coordination, balance and physical activity to same‐age peers will be used to measure child motor functioning. A series of custom questions that have been designed specially to evaluate perceptions of the Sleeping Sound program will be used to measure parents thoughts of the sleep program . The 7‐item Sleep Hygiene Scale (study developed measure adapted from the bed routine scales) will be used to measure child’s sleep hygiene. The Assessment of Quality of Life will be used to measure parent quality of life. The Child Health Utility 9D will be used to measure child quality of life. The Developmental Behavioural Checklist will be used to measure child behavioural problems. The Developmental Behavioural Checklist will measure children's emotional disturbances. The Kessler 10 (K10) will be used to measure parent mental health. The Social Communication Questionnaire‐ Current form will be used to measure the child’s autism symptomology over time. The Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire will be used to measure the child’s behaviour. The Strengths and Difficulties questionnaire will be used to measure the child’s social functioning. • Having a moderate or severe sleep problem by parent report and need to meet criteria for at least one of the following behavioural sleep problems as defined by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine diagnostic criteria: chronic insomnia (due to problems of sleep onset association, limit setting, prolonged night time waking, primary insomnia, early waking, or anxiety) delayed sleep phase disorder, or parasomnias (sleepwalking, sleep terrors and nightmare disorder) AND