Sleep issues are common for autistic teens, including only getting 4 to 5 hours of sleep each night, having trouble falling asleep, waking up in the middle of the night, and waking up early. Here are some tips to help. The Milestones Sleep Tool Kit provides more detailed information including how autistic people being wired differently impacts sleep, ways to help and types of sleep disorders.

Depending on your teen’s needs and ability, it would be helpful to develop a consistent nighttime routine that could include calming activities like bathing, reading, or listening to music.

Try to set some boundaries for your teen about watching television, using tablets, phones, or computers before bedtime. Use night lighting settings on devices and/or purchase blue light filtering glasses for your teen to wear. Use their smartphone sleep settings to help.

To build their planning skills for their preferred before bed activities and to have them ready to use the next day, have your teen take responsibility for keeping their devices charged.

Encourage your teen to have physical activity, but avoid before bed.

Teens who share bedrooms may have different sleeping schedules and needs which can cause additional challenges. Think about how the space could be modified to support those different patterns like level of light, etc.