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How do you handle this with your SN kids?


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There've been a couple of threads about sleep lately, and I'm wondering how y'all handle sleep disturbance and it's effect on our kids' learning.

 

Do you let them sleep until they wake up, knowing they need it?

 

Do you wake them early in order to *try* to make them tired the next night, knowing that might totally screw up the school day?

 

And either way, once they're up, how long do you give them before starting school?

 

I'm having a hard time deciding whether to push her toward a more "normal" schedule, or just follow her natural schedule, bizarre as that may be.

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Do you let them sleep until they wake up, knowing they need it? Yes and no. When DS sleeps in, it messes up his clock. He MUST have structure, and that includes a scheduled wake-up time. He doesn't like getting up as early as he has to so we can get DD to school on time, but when she comes home this fall, we'll be able to set a time for him to be up that applies on both weekdays and weekends. He's excited, because he knows this is a large part of his sleep problem. He thrives on consistency. DD, on the other hand, needs sleep whenever it occurs. She has a mood disorder that messes with her sleep schedule. Sometimes she's up for hours, wakes up during the night, and gets up early; sometimes she wants to sleep and sleep and sleep and takes naps to boot. If I try to influence her schedule, things get ugly fast. I have learned to let her go.

 

Do you wake them early in order to *try* to make them tired the next night, knowing that might totally screw up the school day? No. Unless I have a death wish. ;)

 

And either way, once they're up, how long do you give them before starting school? I wake them up about an hour before we have to be out the door. This fall I will do the same, but we'll have a slightly later start time.

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Do you let them sleep until they wake up, knowing they need it? DD, on the other hand, needs sleep whenever it occurs. She has a mood disorder that messes with her sleep schedule. Sometimes she's up for hours, wakes up during the night, and gets up early; sometimes she wants to sleep and sleep and sleep and takes naps to boot. If I try to influence her schedule, things get ugly fast. I have learned to let her go.

 

My dd is bipolar, so you are describing exactly what I'm dealing with.

 

Do you wake them early in order to *try* to make them tired the next night, knowing that might totally screw up the school day? No. Unless I have a death wish. ;)

 

Exactly!!

Edited by funnygirl
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Right now, our doctor wants us to schedule an appointment at a sleep clinic. Before we do that, he is helping us figure out how to reset ds's sleep clock. He had us keep track of the hours he naturally slept, naps included for 1 week. Then we added up the total number of hours and divided it by 7. That should be how much sleep he needs each night. Then plan bedtime and wake time accordingly. But we are not to let him nap during the day. I think he said it takes 60 days or so to reset his sleep clock. I am not sure whether this is the best way to accomplish better sleep or not but the doctor says this is where the sleep clinic would start us off.

 

 

This is extremely helpful!!

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