Children and Young People's Sleep Service - North Yorkshire

Poor sleep patterns impact on learning and cognitive ability, children and young people who are sleep deprived often fail to meet their full potential in school; and sleep deprivation is also linked to obesity (DfE, 2010). Child sleep problems are also associated with high levels of parental stress and irritability and, importantly, increase the risk for, and the severity of, daytime behaviour problems.

Over the years several studies found parents reporting high levels of unmet need for skills to manage their child's sleep or day-time behaviour (DfE, 2010).

Disabled children and particularly those with learning disabilities and/or autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) are much more likely to have problems with their sleep or behaviour than non-disabled children (DfE, 2010).

Previous research, reports prevalence rates of sleep problems ranging from 34%-80% (DfE, 2010). More recently, CYP have reported sleep changes due to the pandemic (British Medical Journal, 2021) with CYP with SEN experiencing more sleep disturbance. These problems are typically persistent and do not resolve themselves without intervention.