SEVERE SLEEP DISTURBANCE AND DAYTIME CHALLENGING BEHAVIOR IN CHILDRENWITH SEVERE LEARNING-DISABILITIES

Sleep problems are common in children with severe learning difficultie s. Children with sleep problems are reported to have more behaviour pr oblems, but daytime challenging behaviour has not been examined specif ically. The current study was concerned with associations between slee p problems and challenging behaviour, as well as describing other clin ical features of the childrens' sleep, as reported by parents. All chi ldren in the series showed some form of sleep disturbance, with settli ng problems, night waking and early waking in 44% of the sample. Child ren with sleep problems showed significantly more types of challenging behaviour and challenging behaviour of a greater severity than childr en without sleep problems, resulting in management difficulties for ca rers throughout the 24-h period. Reasons for this association and sugg estions for intervention are discussed.