Good sleep is essential for our mental and physical well-being, but almost half of children experience sleep issues at some point. Children who are autistic, already experience mental health challenges or have special educational needs are twice as likely to experience difficulty with sleep.
At Wings School Notts, Robert*, who is autistic, found that his difficulties with sleep were impacting his ability to learn in school. After a poor night’s sleep he was sleeping in class and unable to engage effectively in learning.
Working with the school’s dedicated in-house Clinical Manager, registered nurse Emma Scaysbook and the wider clinical team at Wings Notts, he has been supported in sleep hygiene and is seeing benefits.
Emma said: “As a school – and working across care and residential – if a child is struggling with sleep, we can develop individual plans to support them as we know just how much of an impact poor sleep can have on a child’s mental and physical health and their ability to engage in everyday life and get the most out of each day.
“We are a Sleep Right accredited school. That means members of our team are trained in how sleep works, sleep science, needs, how to gain good quality sleep, bedroom environment, bedtimes, anxiety and sensory needs. We look at sleep strategies and methods and the different ways we can support a child achieve better sleep.
“With Robert, myself and the school’s in-house Occupational Therapist have worked alongside his care team on developing diaries so we know what has had a positive impact for him. We look at things like is the child going to bed too early? Do they feel safe and comfortable? Are they over-stimulated? Are there physical reasons why sleep may be an issue, would more physical activity help?
“It may be that something as simple as ear plugs or sleep masks or another ‘physical’ device could help and we will source those too.”
The support of the team is already reaping rewards for Robert.
He said: “I really like it here and I like the lessons. I have been looked after at Wings Notts for two years and this is my third children’s home. It’s my favourite.
“There’s lots of good things and we do some lessons outdoors and sports like golf and swimming, which is good. The food is also really good too. I like coming in to school because of all of those things.
“One of the things I find hard though is sleeping. We have a nurse who is helping me and the team at the children’s home with my sleep because when I don’t sleep it makes me really tired during the day and that can make school hard.
“They have helped me make a plan for getting ready to go to sleep every night and it really is helping. I am going to get a special sleep mask which will help me even more.”