Study: Brief sleep intervention provides enduring benefits to children with ADHD

___ Sleep problems are common in children with ADHD, are more persistent than in the general population, and often exacerbate difficulties associated with ADHD. For example, poor sleep can enhance difficulties with attention and concentration that most youth with ADHD experience. Research has shown that brief sleep interventions can improve sleep in youth without ADHD who experience sleep difficulties. However, until recently, there have been no randomized controlled trials on the impact of brief sleep interventions in youth with both ADHD and sleep difficulties. The Study: A study published in the British Medical Journal provides an important investigation demonstrating that many youth with ADHD and sleep difficulties can be helped by a relatively brief sleep intervention. Participants were 244 children with ADHD ages 5–12 (and their parent(s) who also met the American Academy of Sleep Medicine diagnostic criteria for at least one sleep disorder, e.g., needing someone in the same room to fall asleep, not fall asleep for 2 or more hours beyond socially acceptable/conventional time, difficulty falling and/or maintaining sleep. Families were randomly assigned to receive a brief sleep intervention or to the control condition. The intervention was limited to 2 sessions and a single follow-up phone consultation. In the first session, clinicians assessed the child’s sleep problem, developed parents’ goals for sleep management, provided information about normal sleep and ...
Source: SharpBrains - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Attention and ADD/ADHD randomized controlled trials sleep sleep intervention sleep problems Source Type: blogs