Sleep problems in children and young adults with developmental disabilities: home-based functional assessment and treatment.

Sleep problems such as settling problems, frequent night waking, and early waking are prevalent as well as persistent with children and young adults with developmental disabilities who live at home. In this study, results of pretreatment functional assessment suggested that parental attention may have shaped and maintained the sleep problems with four participants. Effectiveness of extinction of parental attention, that is planned ignoring, was assessed on number of minutes of nighttime disruptive behaviors. Treatment resulted in a normalized sleep pattern in all cases and effects were maintained across time.