Sleep is very important for a growing child. Parents who have undergone the wrath of a sleep-deprived and cranky kid know the importance and necessity of sleep all too well. However, a recent study now tells us that grouchiness and whining aren’t the only things that parents should be worried about when it comes to a sleep-deprived child.
It turns out that if your young child is experiencing sleep problems, there’s a higher chance that they could develop special education needs by the time that they’re eight years old. A recent study took a look at a number of children, eight percent of which had the worst sleep problems. Researchers discovered that those eight percent of children had the highest risk of having special education needs at age eight—even when statistics were adjusted so that factors like IQ were irrelevant in the results.
It should be noted that only an association between poor sleep and special education needs has been discovered. Researchers have yet to find a cause-and-effect relationship. In addition, this phenomenon could be explained by something other than sleep. Researchers also included that this information is limited because all of the subjects were children from England, and ninety-eight percent of them were white. More conclusive data would’ve come from a more diverse pool of subjects. Nonetheless, the information that we have gotten out of this study brings us one step closer to a healthier world.
In another analysis, 13,024 children were studied. One thousand eight hundred and twenty five of them had special education needs. Out of these 1,825 kids, seventy-one percent of them had suffered from earlier sleep problems. In other words, children who dealt with sleep problems like sleep apnea and snoring in their infant, toddler, and preschool years were more likely to need special education services for things such as speech and behavioral problems a few years later.
Again, no definitive cause-and-effect relationship has been established, but we do know that previous research has given us information that shows how sleep problems affect the brain. For example, sleep deprivation inhibits the brain from making memories. Researchers noted that it’s possible that genetics could explain both sleep problems and disabilities. Ultimately, as loving parents, we are responsible to make sure that our children are getting the proper sleep that they need every night. It could save them from needing special education services later down the road!
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