Sleep Patterns of Children with Pervasive Developmental Disorders

Data on sleep behavior were gathered on 100 children with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), ages 2–11 years, using sleep diaries, the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire (CSHQ), and the Parenting Events Questionnaire. Two time periods were sampled to assess short-term stability of sleep–wake patterns. Before data collection, slightly more than half of the parents, when queried, reported a sleep problem in their child. Subsequent diary and CSHQ reports confirmed more fragmented sleep in those children who were described by their parents as having a sleep problem compared to those without a designated problem. Interestingly, regardless of parental perception of problematic sleep, all children with PDD exhibited longer sleep onset times and greater fragmentation of sleep than that reported for age-matched community norms. The results demonstrate that sleep problems identified by the parent, as well as fragmentation of sleep patterns obtained from sleep diary and CSHQ data, exist in a significant proportion of children with PDD.