Since 1999, Barnardo’s NI Forward Steps service has expertly assisted paediatric services to assess, diagnose and offer interventions to children with autism and related communication difficulties. In recent years, the team of autism specialist interventionists grew increasingly aware of an apparent trend in their caseload, of children presenting with poor sleeping habits.
In response, Barnardo’s NI decided to fund a pilot sleep intervention programme that aimed to work alongside parents to promote normal sleeping patterns and to reverse the onset of any established poor sleeping routines and behaviour.
This briefing presents an overview of the intervention, its emerging key findings, the related policy context and recommendations for policymakers.