Jan 14, 2026
Why Bedtime is Harder for Neurodivergent Children: It's Not a Discipline Problem"
Why Bedtime is Harder for Neurodivergent Children: It's Not a Discipline Problem"
It's 9:47pm. Your child is wide awake. You've done everything the books say. Everything the other parents swear by.
Star charts. Earlier bedtimes. Screens off at 6pm. Warm milk. Lavender spray. Weighted blankets. A routine so rigid you could set a clock by it.
And still. Every. Single. Night.
If you're reading this with that familiar knot in your stomach, exhausted from another bedtime that stretched past two hours, you already know something the parenting books don't tell you.
Your child isn't being defiant. They're not testing boundaries. They're not "just overtired."
Their brain works differently. And that difference doesn't clock off when the lights go down.
Neurodivergent bedtime struggles affect up to 80% of autistic children and 75% of children with ADHD. That's not a discipline problem. That's neurology. And once you understand what's actually happening in your child's brain at 9pm, you can stop fighting it and start working with it.
The Neurodivergent Brain at Bedtime
Here's what happens for most children: body signals tiredness, brain follows along. Melatonin rises. Thoughts slow. Awake to asleep in 15-20 minutes.
For neurodivergent children? That process can go sideways at every stage.
The ADHD brain won't switch off. Racing thoughts don't respond to "just close your eyes." The ADHD brain is often under-stimulated during the day, then comes alive at night when the world finally gets quiet. No more distractions. No more structure. Just a brain with nothing to focus on except every thought it pushed aside since breakfast.
This explains why your child seems exhausted at 6pm but wired at 10pm. Their brain is finally getting the quiet it needs to think.
According to the Sleep Foundation, 2024: ADHD and Sleep Problems: How Are They Related?, up to 75% of children and adults with ADHD experience sleep problems. Three in four. And the main issues? Falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking up. Sound familiar?
The autistic brain craves predictability, but bedtime is chaos disguised as routine.Think about what bedtime actually involves: leaving dinner, walking upstairs, running a bath, choosing pyjamas, brushing teeth, getting into bed, lights off, door closed, alone in the dark.
That's at least seven transitions in under an hour. Each one a potential anxiety trigger. Each one a moment where something could go wrong, could be different from yesterday, could feel unsafe.
The National Autistic Society, 2024: Sleep and autism, notes that between 50-80% of autistic children experience sleep difficulties, compared to around 20-30% of neurotypical children. That's more than double the rate.
Why "Just Be Consistent" Doesn't Work
You've heard it before. The well-meaning advice from people whose children fall asleep in 20 minutes.
"Create a calming environment."
"Stick to a routine."
"Make sure they're tired enough."
You've tried all of it. And it still doesn't work. Here's why.
"Create a calming environment" assumes your child finds the same things calming that other children do. But sensory processing differences flip this on its head. The ticking clock that helps neurotypical children track time passing? It might be the only thing your child can hear. The dim lamp that signals "wind-down"? It might feel like shadows are creeping closer.
What calms one child overwhelms another. There's no universal calm.
"Stick to a routine" assumes the routine will eventually become automatic. For children with ADHD, automaticity is harder to achieve. Their brains need more repetitions, more cues, more external signals. And if anything disrupts the routine? One late dinner. One school event. One holiday. The whole system resets.
"Make sure they're tired enough" assumes tiredness leads to sleep. For many neurodivergent children, the opposite happens. Overtiredness triggers hyperactivity. Their nervous system compensates for exhaustion by ramping up, creating the paradox you've seen a hundred times: the exhausted child who can't stop bouncing off the walls.
The Four Hidden Challenges at Bedtime
Once you understand what's actually happening in your child's brain and body, everything starts making sense. These are the four challenges that generic advice completely ignores.
1. Transition Anxiety
Think about what bedtime really means for your child.
They're leaving behind the known: being awake, with you, doing familiar things. They're entering the unknown: alone, in the dark, unconscious, unable to control what happens next.
For children who struggle with [emotional regulation](/understanding-emotional-regulation-children), this isn't "resisting bedtime." It's genuine fear about what comes next. And autistic children often experience this acutely.
They're not being difficult. They're scared.
Signs you might recognise:
Needing to know exactly what happens after lights out
Asking the same questions every night ("Will you check on me?" "What if I have a bad dream?")
Delaying tactics that seem designed to keep you in the room
Sudden tummy aches or headaches that appear only at bedtime
2. Racing Thoughts and Restless Bodies
The ADHD brain doesn't have an off switch. When the day's distractions disappear and the room goes quiet, every thought that was held at bay comes flooding in.
*What did I do wrong today? What's happening tomorrow? Did I finish my homework? Why did my friend say that thing at lunch? Is the dog okay? What was that noise? Did I lock my bike? What if I forget my PE kit?*
This isn't worry by choice. It's a brain without the natural braking system that helps neurotypical children slow down at night.
Children with ADHD sleep difficulties often describe it as their mind being "too loud" at night. They can't switch it off because there's no switch.
And the body follows. Restless legs that won't stay still. Tossing and turning. An inability to get comfortable that has nothing to do with the mattress and everything to do with a nervous system still running at full speed.
3. Sensory Sensitivities
Your bedroom is quiet. Their bedroom is chaos.
Bedtime environments are full of sensory input that neurotypical brains filter out without effort:
The hum of electronics (you've stopped noticing it; they can't)
The texture of sheets against skin
The pressure of pyjamas on arms and legs
Streetlights bleeding through curtain gaps
The temperature difference between blanket and exposed skin
That one floorboard creak from downstairs
For children with sensory processing differences, these aren't background details. They're active problems demanding attention. Every single one.
You can't fall asleep while your brain is tracking every creak, every shadow, every unexpected sensation.
Children experiencing [sensory overload](/understanding-sensory-overload-children) from their day may find bedtime especially challenging. Their nervous system is still processing hours of accumulated sensory input from school, activities, and home life. Bedtime isn't rest. It's the first quiet moment where everything catches up.
4. Melatonin and Circadian Rhythm Differences
Here's something that might change how you see bedtime battles: your child might genuinely not feel tired at 7:30pm. Not because they're not tired enough. Because their body clock runs differently.
Research suggests neurodivergent children often have differences in how their bodies produce and respond to melatonin.
Souders et al., 2017: Sleep in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder found that many autistic children show atypical melatonin patterns, with delayed or reduced production compared to neurotypical children.
Their body clock is running on a different schedule. An 8pm bedtime for your child might feel like a 6pm bedtime for their neurotypical peers.
Fighting this biology with earlier bedtimes often backfires. You end up with frustrated parents, frustrated children, and hours spent lying awake developing negative associations with bed itself.
What Actually Helps (And What Doesn't)
Understanding the neurology is step one. Step two is finding tools that work with your child's brain, not against it.
What Doesn't Work
More rules. If neurodivergent bedtime struggles were about discipline, stricter rules would fix them. They don't. The problem isn't defiance. Piling on more consequences creates shame and anxiety, which makes sleep harder, not easier.
Generic "calming" activities. Bath, book, bed works for some children. For others, baths are sensory nightmares and books create racing thoughts about what happens next in the story. The routine that works for your child might look nothing like the textbook version.
Extinction methods. Letting a neurodivergent child "cry it out" or ignoring their distress often increases anxiety, reinforcing negative associations with bed itself. These approaches assume all children self-soothe at the same rate. They don't.
What Often Helps
Predictability beyond routine. Routines tell your child what happens next. But neurodivergent children often need deeper predictability: knowing not just the sequence but the sensory experience of each step. The same sounds. The same lighting. The same words at the same moment. Consistency in tiny details creates safety.
Something for the brain to land on. This is where sound becomes powerful. For children with racing thoughts at night, silence is the enemy. Their brain fills the quiet with thoughts. But passive sound gives the brain something to focus on without demanding anything back.
No meditation instructions to follow. No breathing exercises to remember. Just sound that provides an anchor.
Many parents find that ambient soundscapes or gentle frequencies give their child's brain exactly what it needs: something to listen to that asks nothing in return. The racing thoughts have somewhere to land instead of spiralling.
Sensory-aware environments. This might mean blackout curtains, specific sheet textures, or removing ticking clocks. It definitely means paying attention to what your child complains about, even when the complaint seems minor.
If the pyjama tag bothers them, it really bothers them. Trust what they tell you.
Longer wind-down periods. Neurotypical children might need 30 minutes to transition from activity to sleep. Neurodivergent children often need 60 minutes or more. Building in this time reduces the pressure that creates resistance.
Gradual transitions, not abrupt endings. Instead of "screens off, it's bedtime," try layered transitions. Screens off, then quieter activities, then movement to bedroom, then body-based activity (stretching, organising toys), then lying down with sound. Each step bridges to the next. No sudden jumps.
Removing the Guilt
If you've been blaming yourself, please stop. Right now.
Neurodivergent bedtime struggles aren't created by permissive parenting. They're not fixed by stricter parenting. They exist because your child's brain processes transitions, sensory input, and arousal differently.
You're not failing because star charts don't work. You're parenting a child whose neurology requires different tools. Tools that weren't in the parenting books because those books weren't written for your child.
The relatives who say "they just need boundaries" aren't dealing with what you're dealing with. They're not watching their child genuinely distressed night after night. They're not exhausted to the bone from two-hour bedtime battles. They don't understand.
What works is understanding why bedtime is hard, then finding approaches that match your child's actual brain. That might include sound as a tool for settling racing thoughts. It might include visual schedules that reduce transition anxiety. It will definitely include patience with a process that doesn't follow the timeline other families experience.
Finding Your Child's Tools
Different challenges need different tools.
A child whose brain races needs something to land on. A child with transition anxiety needs deep predictability. A child with sensory sensitivities needs an environment tailored to their specific nervous system.
In the articles that follow in this series, we'll cover specific strategies:
For now, remember this: neurodivergent bedtime struggles are real, they're neurological, and they respond to tools that work with your child's brain.
One quiet moment can change a whole day for a child. Sometimes finding that moment starts with understanding why the loud moments exist.
Something to Try Tonight
If you're reading this at 8pm, knowing bedtime is about to start, here's something you can try right now.
The Open Sanctuary is a collection of sounds designed specifically for neurodivergent children. Ambient soundscapes. Gentle frequencies. Calming audio that gives racing brains something to land on.
No meditation to follow. No breathing exercises to remember. No choices to make.
Just press play and let your child's brain find its anchor.
It's 9:47pm. Your child is wide awake. You've done everything the books say. Everything the other parents swear by.
Star charts. Earlier bedtimes. Screens off at 6pm. Warm milk. Lavender spray. Weighted blankets. A routine so rigid you could set a clock by it.
And still. Every. Single. Night.
If you're reading this with that familiar knot in your stomach, exhausted from another bedtime that stretched past two hours, you already know something the parenting books don't tell you.
Your child isn't being defiant. They're not testing boundaries. They're not "just overtired."
Their brain works differently. And that difference doesn't clock off when the lights go down.
Neurodivergent bedtime struggles affect up to 80% of autistic children and 75% of children with ADHD. That's not a discipline problem. That's neurology. And once you understand what's actually happening in your child's brain at 9pm, you can stop fighting it and start working with it.
The Neurodivergent Brain at Bedtime
Here's what happens for most children: body signals tiredness, brain follows along. Melatonin rises. Thoughts slow. Awake to asleep in 15-20 minutes.
For neurodivergent children? That process can go sideways at every stage.
The ADHD brain won't switch off. Racing thoughts don't respond to "just close your eyes." The ADHD brain is often under-stimulated during the day, then comes alive at night when the world finally gets quiet. No more distractions. No more structure. Just a brain with nothing to focus on except every thought it pushed aside since breakfast.
This explains why your child seems exhausted at 6pm but wired at 10pm. Their brain is finally getting the quiet it needs to think.
According to the Sleep Foundation, 2024: ADHD and Sleep Problems: How Are They Related?, up to 75% of children and adults with ADHD experience sleep problems. Three in four. And the main issues? Falling asleep, staying asleep, and waking up. Sound familiar?
The autistic brain craves predictability, but bedtime is chaos disguised as routine.Think about what bedtime actually involves: leaving dinner, walking upstairs, running a bath, choosing pyjamas, brushing teeth, getting into bed, lights off, door closed, alone in the dark.
That's at least seven transitions in under an hour. Each one a potential anxiety trigger. Each one a moment where something could go wrong, could be different from yesterday, could feel unsafe.
The National Autistic Society, 2024: Sleep and autism, notes that between 50-80% of autistic children experience sleep difficulties, compared to around 20-30% of neurotypical children. That's more than double the rate.
Why "Just Be Consistent" Doesn't Work
You've heard it before. The well-meaning advice from people whose children fall asleep in 20 minutes.
"Create a calming environment."
"Stick to a routine."
"Make sure they're tired enough."
You've tried all of it. And it still doesn't work. Here's why.
"Create a calming environment" assumes your child finds the same things calming that other children do. But sensory processing differences flip this on its head. The ticking clock that helps neurotypical children track time passing? It might be the only thing your child can hear. The dim lamp that signals "wind-down"? It might feel like shadows are creeping closer.
What calms one child overwhelms another. There's no universal calm.
"Stick to a routine" assumes the routine will eventually become automatic. For children with ADHD, automaticity is harder to achieve. Their brains need more repetitions, more cues, more external signals. And if anything disrupts the routine? One late dinner. One school event. One holiday. The whole system resets.
"Make sure they're tired enough" assumes tiredness leads to sleep. For many neurodivergent children, the opposite happens. Overtiredness triggers hyperactivity. Their nervous system compensates for exhaustion by ramping up, creating the paradox you've seen a hundred times: the exhausted child who can't stop bouncing off the walls.
The Four Hidden Challenges at Bedtime
Once you understand what's actually happening in your child's brain and body, everything starts making sense. These are the four challenges that generic advice completely ignores.
1. Transition Anxiety
Think about what bedtime really means for your child.
They're leaving behind the known: being awake, with you, doing familiar things. They're entering the unknown: alone, in the dark, unconscious, unable to control what happens next.
For children who struggle with [emotional regulation](/understanding-emotional-regulation-children), this isn't "resisting bedtime." It's genuine fear about what comes next. And autistic children often experience this acutely.
They're not being difficult. They're scared.
Signs you might recognise:
Needing to know exactly what happens after lights out
Asking the same questions every night ("Will you check on me?" "What if I have a bad dream?")
Delaying tactics that seem designed to keep you in the room
Sudden tummy aches or headaches that appear only at bedtime
2. Racing Thoughts and Restless Bodies
The ADHD brain doesn't have an off switch. When the day's distractions disappear and the room goes quiet, every thought that was held at bay comes flooding in.
*What did I do wrong today? What's happening tomorrow? Did I finish my homework? Why did my friend say that thing at lunch? Is the dog okay? What was that noise? Did I lock my bike? What if I forget my PE kit?*
This isn't worry by choice. It's a brain without the natural braking system that helps neurotypical children slow down at night.
Children with ADHD sleep difficulties often describe it as their mind being "too loud" at night. They can't switch it off because there's no switch.
And the body follows. Restless legs that won't stay still. Tossing and turning. An inability to get comfortable that has nothing to do with the mattress and everything to do with a nervous system still running at full speed.
3. Sensory Sensitivities
Your bedroom is quiet. Their bedroom is chaos.
Bedtime environments are full of sensory input that neurotypical brains filter out without effort:
The hum of electronics (you've stopped noticing it; they can't)
The texture of sheets against skin
The pressure of pyjamas on arms and legs
Streetlights bleeding through curtain gaps
The temperature difference between blanket and exposed skin
That one floorboard creak from downstairs
For children with sensory processing differences, these aren't background details. They're active problems demanding attention. Every single one.
You can't fall asleep while your brain is tracking every creak, every shadow, every unexpected sensation.
Children experiencing [sensory overload](/understanding-sensory-overload-children) from their day may find bedtime especially challenging. Their nervous system is still processing hours of accumulated sensory input from school, activities, and home life. Bedtime isn't rest. It's the first quiet moment where everything catches up.
4. Melatonin and Circadian Rhythm Differences
Here's something that might change how you see bedtime battles: your child might genuinely not feel tired at 7:30pm. Not because they're not tired enough. Because their body clock runs differently.
Research suggests neurodivergent children often have differences in how their bodies produce and respond to melatonin.
Souders et al., 2017: Sleep in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder found that many autistic children show atypical melatonin patterns, with delayed or reduced production compared to neurotypical children.
Their body clock is running on a different schedule. An 8pm bedtime for your child might feel like a 6pm bedtime for their neurotypical peers.
Fighting this biology with earlier bedtimes often backfires. You end up with frustrated parents, frustrated children, and hours spent lying awake developing negative associations with bed itself.
What Actually Helps (And What Doesn't)
Understanding the neurology is step one. Step two is finding tools that work with your child's brain, not against it.
What Doesn't Work
More rules. If neurodivergent bedtime struggles were about discipline, stricter rules would fix them. They don't. The problem isn't defiance. Piling on more consequences creates shame and anxiety, which makes sleep harder, not easier.
Generic "calming" activities. Bath, book, bed works for some children. For others, baths are sensory nightmares and books create racing thoughts about what happens next in the story. The routine that works for your child might look nothing like the textbook version.
Extinction methods. Letting a neurodivergent child "cry it out" or ignoring their distress often increases anxiety, reinforcing negative associations with bed itself. These approaches assume all children self-soothe at the same rate. They don't.
What Often Helps
Predictability beyond routine. Routines tell your child what happens next. But neurodivergent children often need deeper predictability: knowing not just the sequence but the sensory experience of each step. The same sounds. The same lighting. The same words at the same moment. Consistency in tiny details creates safety.
Something for the brain to land on. This is where sound becomes powerful. For children with racing thoughts at night, silence is the enemy. Their brain fills the quiet with thoughts. But passive sound gives the brain something to focus on without demanding anything back.
No meditation instructions to follow. No breathing exercises to remember. Just sound that provides an anchor.
Many parents find that ambient soundscapes or gentle frequencies give their child's brain exactly what it needs: something to listen to that asks nothing in return. The racing thoughts have somewhere to land instead of spiralling.
Sensory-aware environments. This might mean blackout curtains, specific sheet textures, or removing ticking clocks. It definitely means paying attention to what your child complains about, even when the complaint seems minor.
If the pyjama tag bothers them, it really bothers them. Trust what they tell you.
Longer wind-down periods. Neurotypical children might need 30 minutes to transition from activity to sleep. Neurodivergent children often need 60 minutes or more. Building in this time reduces the pressure that creates resistance.
Gradual transitions, not abrupt endings. Instead of "screens off, it's bedtime," try layered transitions. Screens off, then quieter activities, then movement to bedroom, then body-based activity (stretching, organising toys), then lying down with sound. Each step bridges to the next. No sudden jumps.
Removing the Guilt
If you've been blaming yourself, please stop. Right now.
Neurodivergent bedtime struggles aren't created by permissive parenting. They're not fixed by stricter parenting. They exist because your child's brain processes transitions, sensory input, and arousal differently.
You're not failing because star charts don't work. You're parenting a child whose neurology requires different tools. Tools that weren't in the parenting books because those books weren't written for your child.
The relatives who say "they just need boundaries" aren't dealing with what you're dealing with. They're not watching their child genuinely distressed night after night. They're not exhausted to the bone from two-hour bedtime battles. They don't understand.
What works is understanding why bedtime is hard, then finding approaches that match your child's actual brain. That might include sound as a tool for settling racing thoughts. It might include visual schedules that reduce transition anxiety. It will definitely include patience with a process that doesn't follow the timeline other families experience.
Finding Your Child's Tools
Different challenges need different tools.
A child whose brain races needs something to land on. A child with transition anxiety needs deep predictability. A child with sensory sensitivities needs an environment tailored to their specific nervous system.
In the articles that follow in this series, we'll cover specific strategies:
For now, remember this: neurodivergent bedtime struggles are real, they're neurological, and they respond to tools that work with your child's brain.
One quiet moment can change a whole day for a child. Sometimes finding that moment starts with understanding why the loud moments exist.
Something to Try Tonight
If you're reading this at 8pm, knowing bedtime is about to start, here's something you can try right now.
The Open Sanctuary is a collection of sounds designed specifically for neurodivergent children. Ambient soundscapes. Gentle frequencies. Calming audio that gives racing brains something to land on.
No meditation to follow. No breathing exercises to remember. No choices to make.
Just press play and let your child's brain find its anchor.
Make tomorrow feel easier
Whether it’s bedtime battles, big emotions or sensory overload, small sound moments can bring your child the reassurance and stability they need.
Make tomorrow feel easier
Whether it’s bedtime battles, big emotions or sensory overload, small sound moments can bring your child the reassurance and stability they need.
Make tomorrow feel easier
Whether it’s bedtime battles, big emotions or sensory overload, small sound moments can bring your child the reassurance and stability they need.
Why won't my neurodivergent child sleep even when they're exhausted?
Exhaustion doesn't always lead to sleep for neurodivergent children. Their nervous systems can respond to tiredness by becoming more activated, not less.
This creates the frustrating paradox you've seen: a clearly exhausted child who becomes hyperactive at bedtime. The solution isn't more tiredness. It's supporting the nervous system to calm down despite the tiredness. Sound can help here by giving the brain something gentle to focus on.
Is it normal for ADHD children to take hours to fall asleep?
Yes. Studies suggest up to 75% of children with ADHD experience sleep onset difficulties. Three in four.
Their brains often struggle to transition from the stimulation of the day to the quietness needed for sleep. Racing thoughts, physical restlessness, and delayed melatonin production all contribute.
If your ADHD child takes an hour or more to fall asleep, you're not alone. There are strategies that help, and most of them involve giving the brain something to land on instead of fighting the silence.
How do I know if bedtime struggles are neurological or behavioural?
Look at the pattern.
Behavioural resistance typically responds to consistent boundaries over time. The child negotiates, tests limits, but eventually settles when boundaries hold.
Neurological struggles persist despite consistency. They appear as genuine distress rather than negotiation. If your child seems anxious rather than defiant, if they're physically unable to settle rather than choosing not to, and if traditional approaches have failed repeatedly, the underlying cause is likely neurological.
Should I give my neurodivergent child melatonin for sleep?
Melatonin can help some neurodivergent children, but it's not a complete solution. Speak with your GP or paediatrician before using melatonin supplements.
Even when melatonin helps with sleep onset, children often need additional support for staying asleep and managing bedtime anxiety. Melatonin addresses biology but not the sensory or emotional challenges that make bedtime difficult.
What's the difference between autistic bedtime struggles and ADHD bedtime struggles?
While there's overlap, the core challenges differ.
Autistic children often struggle with transition anxiety. They need deep predictability and experience genuine distress when bedtime routines vary even slightly.
ADHD children typically struggle with racing thoughts and physical restlessness. They find the quiet of bedtime difficult because their brain has nothing to focus on.
Many children are both autistic and ADHD, experiencing both types of challenges at once. Understanding which challenges your child faces most helps you choose the right tools.
Why won't my neurodivergent child sleep even when they're exhausted?
Exhaustion doesn't always lead to sleep for neurodivergent children. Their nervous systems can respond to tiredness by becoming more activated, not less.
This creates the frustrating paradox you've seen: a clearly exhausted child who becomes hyperactive at bedtime. The solution isn't more tiredness. It's supporting the nervous system to calm down despite the tiredness. Sound can help here by giving the brain something gentle to focus on.
Is it normal for ADHD children to take hours to fall asleep?
Yes. Studies suggest up to 75% of children with ADHD experience sleep onset difficulties. Three in four.
Their brains often struggle to transition from the stimulation of the day to the quietness needed for sleep. Racing thoughts, physical restlessness, and delayed melatonin production all contribute.
If your ADHD child takes an hour or more to fall asleep, you're not alone. There are strategies that help, and most of them involve giving the brain something to land on instead of fighting the silence.
How do I know if bedtime struggles are neurological or behavioural?
Look at the pattern.
Behavioural resistance typically responds to consistent boundaries over time. The child negotiates, tests limits, but eventually settles when boundaries hold.
Neurological struggles persist despite consistency. They appear as genuine distress rather than negotiation. If your child seems anxious rather than defiant, if they're physically unable to settle rather than choosing not to, and if traditional approaches have failed repeatedly, the underlying cause is likely neurological.
Should I give my neurodivergent child melatonin for sleep?
Melatonin can help some neurodivergent children, but it's not a complete solution. Speak with your GP or paediatrician before using melatonin supplements.
Even when melatonin helps with sleep onset, children often need additional support for staying asleep and managing bedtime anxiety. Melatonin addresses biology but not the sensory or emotional challenges that make bedtime difficult.
What's the difference between autistic bedtime struggles and ADHD bedtime struggles?
While there's overlap, the core challenges differ.
Autistic children often struggle with transition anxiety. They need deep predictability and experience genuine distress when bedtime routines vary even slightly.
ADHD children typically struggle with racing thoughts and physical restlessness. They find the quiet of bedtime difficult because their brain has nothing to focus on.
Many children are both autistic and ADHD, experiencing both types of challenges at once. Understanding which challenges your child faces most helps you choose the right tools.