City Research Online

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Sleep problems are common in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). There is also emerging evidence that sleep quality influences language learning in typical development. However there is a gap within the literature in regards to sleep and developmental language disorder in children (DLD).

OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to: i) compare sleep patterns of children with communication disorders to the sleep patterns of their typical peers, and ii) ascertain whether sleep patterns related to language in this sample.

METHOD: The relationship between sleep and language was investigated via parental questionnaires. There were sixty-five child participants in total aged between 3-18 years. Parents reported on 28 children with a developmental communication disorder (CD; ASD n=8 or DLD n=20) and 37 who were typical developing.

RESULTS: The children with a developmental communication disorder showed more sleep problems than their typical peers particularly in terms of getting to sleep and early waking. Furthermore, significant correlations were found between sleep behaviour and language for children in both groups.

CONCLUSION: Children with CD may have poorer sleep patterns than their typical peers which could compound developmental language difficulties.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article to be published by Taylor & Francis in International Journal of Developmental Disabilities, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/20473869.2017.1283766.
Subjects:	R Medicine > RJ Pediatrics > RJ101 Child Health. Child health services
Departments:	School of Health & Psychological Sciences
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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