Rapid-acting treatment for a common sleep problem.

A behavioural modification package incorporating stimulus control, cueing, and rapid-extinction techniques was applied to a group of 15 children with severe learning disability who had chronic sleep disorders. Improvements in their night-settling and night-waking patterns occurred quickly (within a few days) and, in 12 of them, were sustained at medium- and long-term (18 months) follow-up. Additional improvements in the children's daytime behaviour and their mothers' subjective stress indices were observed, though not explicitly addressed. These results compare favourably with those of other studies which have tested behavioural interventions in other cohorts of children with sleep disorders. Wider application of behavioural interventions with these extremely common and potentially handicapping sleep disorders is recommended.