Better Nights, Better Days for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Better Nights, Better Days-NDD
Better Nights, Better Days for Children with Neurodevelopmental Disorders (BNBD-NDD) is an online program for parents of children with sleeping problems who have been diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Cerebral Palsy (CP), Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), and Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD). Led by Dr. Penny Corkum and Dr. Shelly Weiss, BNBD-NDD was developed by a team of sleep experts across Canada.,
Up to 90% of children with neurodevelopmental disorders suffer from sleep problems
Children may have trouble settling down at the end of the day, falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking too early. These issues are known as "insomnia”. When children get adequate sleep, their quality of life improves around the clock - better behavioural and emotional regulation, better mood, and better school performance! A better night’s sleep can result in improved health and well-being for the entire family. The impact of sleep problems on daytime functioning is even greater in children with NDD. This can impact both their psychosocial and physical health. Although there are a range of factors that may disturb sleep in children with NDD, the most frequent cause of sleep disturbance is insomnia.
Few children receive treatment for sleep problems
Treatment is often inaccessible, particularly for children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Children often receive inappropriate treatment such as medication, which may have side effects. Very few children receive behavioural treatment options, which are proven to work. Parents may not have the time or resources to access these treatments, and many health care providers do not have the training to provide these treatments. Our intention is to build an evidence-based, sleep-intervention using a transdiagnostic approach that allows parents to implement it at home with the support of an online intervention.
The BNBD-NDD team of researchers and practitioners are creating a transdiagnostic model to meet the unique needs of children with ADHD, ASD, CP AND FASD.
The program is based on behavioural principles - increasing and encouraging positive behaviours that will help children learn to settle down more quickly at bedtime and achieve a better quality of sleep throughout the night.
BNBD-NDD may help provide a more accessible way of delivering health care to children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Please contact our Project Manager at bnbd-ndd@dal.ca for further information on this project!
