Screen / Test Your Child / Teen for Major Pediatric Sleep Disorders:

Bed-Wetting

Excessive Daytime Sleepiness

Insomnia

Narcolepsy

Periodic Limb Movement Disorder

Restless Legs Syndrome

Sleep Talking

Sleep Terrors / Night Terrors / Nightmares

Sleep Walking

Snoring

Teeth Grinding

Sleep Apnea
Sleep Disorders - Keyword Definitions
Daytime Multiple Sleep Latency Test (MSLT)
Your physician may request that you have a daytime multiple sleep latency test, which is typically occurs following an overnight sleep study. The test is completed in the daytime and takes about seven hours to complete. If sleep apnea or Periodic Limb Movement Disorder are not noted on the overnight sleep study using Polysomnograpy, but the patient is extremely tired during the daytime, then the MSLT is often requested by the sleep specialist. The MSLT test is also conducted at the sleep disorders clinic, often the day following the overnight sleep study. The multiple sleep latency test records the person’s brain waves or EEG, heart rate or EKG, muscle activity, eye movements, and time it takes to fall asleep during each nap. . It also measures the amount of time it takes the person to go into REM (Rapid Eye Movement)-sleep. Typically it takes the normal person 75-to-90 minutes before they go into REM sleep, but a person with Narcolepsy will often go into REM sleep within 20 minutes. The person is required to take a 20 minute nap about once every 90 minutes, usually amounting to four or five naps total for the day/MSLT test. If you have a child or adolescent who exhibits lots of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness and you suspicion may have a sleep disorder, you can quickly screen your child/adolescent for the major sleep disorders in children and teens by going to www.Sleepdisorderhelp.com and clicking onto the “Screening by Parents” menu.
Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome (DSPS)
Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome is a pediatric or adolescent sleep disorder that is very frustrating for parents because these children or adolescents have bad sleep habits and stay up very late at night, resist, or have difficulty falling asleep. Consequently, they are difficult to awaken or irritable upon awakening the next morning; they often have poor motivation in the daytime, lethargy or daytime sleepiness, especially in the morning. Because of these daytime behavior problems, many of these children or teens make poor grades, especially in their early morning classes. Many of these students have frequent tardies and absences, and often drop out of school when they get far behind academically due to these daytime behavior problems. Any student exhibiting these nighttime or daytime behavior problems or sleep problems should have a sleep screening to rule out DSPS. It this sounds like your child or adolescent, read the definition of Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome below:
See www.sleepdisorderhelp.com to complete screening of your child/adolescent if you suspicion s/he may have DSPS. Delayed sleep-phase syndrome (DSPS) is a adolescent form of Insomnia where the sleep timing of the adolescent is irregular. Adolescents or adults with DSPS tend to fall asleep at very late times in the night, and then they do not get a sufficient amount of sleep at night, so they have difficulty waking up in time for work, school, or social activities that begin before noon. It is not uncommon for persons with DSPS to complain that they cannot fall asleep until after midnight or in the early morning hours. In contrast to most insomniacs, they fall asleep at about the same time every night, no matter when they go to bed. Unless they have another sleep disorder such as Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome in addition to DSPS, patients have normal brain wave patterns during sleep, and have a need for the same amount of sleep as everyone else their age. However, they have great difficulty waking up in the morning if they fell asleep late in the night and have only slept for a few hours. DSPS usually develops in early childhood due to parents not enforcing structured bedtime rules on weekday and weekend nights, or in adolescence. It is usually treatable by helping the parents and child/adolescent establish good daytime health habits and good evening sleep hygiene. Treatment for DSPS is different from treatment of other forms of insomnia, and recognizes the patient's ability to sleep well while addressing the sleep timing problem and poor sleep habits that usually exist. To obtain a list of interventions that can be undertaken by the parent and child/teen to correct Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome, go to www.Sleepdisorderhelp.com and click onto the “Screening by Parents” menu and quickly complete the Sleep Disorders Inventory for Students. If your child/teen scores in the “High Risk” or “Caution” ranges for having DSPS, the report will give you several pages of interventions you can use to correct this problem. Correction of this problem can significantly improve your child/teen’s academic performance and lifetime success, so do not delay!
 
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