Sleep in Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Window to Etiology, Diagnosis and Treatment

Understanding sleep physiology in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) not only provides a window to the underlying etiology, it can also help characterize sub-phenotypes and offer a potent treatment approach for improving neuropsychiatric and neurocognitive function in ASD through improved sleep. Dr. Ruth O’Hara will present on the field’s current understanding of sleep in ASD: a) describing how sleep physiology in ASD differs from sleep physiology in typical developing children; b) discussing the different potential ASD phenotypes suggested by her work; and c) describing the different sleep architecture, sleep disturbances, and sleep disorders that are more prevalent in ASD than in typical developing children and which can serve as treatment targets that may in turn improve the core symptoms of ASD.