Most parents are unaware that many daytime and nighttime behavior problems such as a child resisting sleep, child waking at night, kicking or moving in sleep, night terrors or sleep terrors, bed-wetting, daytime sleepiness, lethargy, lack of motivation, depression, irritability, tantrums, excessive frustration, and hyperactivity could be caused by Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome. Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome is such a serious sleep disorder that it can cause or exacerbate many behavioral disorders, such as Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional-Defiant Disorder, Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, Depression, and many other problems. A high percentage of children with Autism have many sleep problems, including OSAS. Because of these problems, many students with OSAS have learning disabilities, developmental delays, behavioral disorders, and some are even mentally handicapped in severe situations (which may be a result of oxygen deprivation to the brain and arterial blood flow). Because of its negative impact on the body and emotional well-being, it is important that every child with any of the above-mentioned problems should be screened or assessed for Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS). If your child has any of these sleep or behavior problems and exhibits raspy breathing at night, mild snoring, or very loud snoring, please read the information below on OSAS and how you can do a sleep screening on your child/teen for OSAS and other major pediatric sleep disorders:

Sleep Apnea is a form of Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) and is a belabored effort to breathe, or an absence of breathing for at least two respiratory cycles per hour. The word “apnea” is Greek and means “absence of breath”. Sleep Apnea can exist in three forms: (1) Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) is the most common form where an obstruction partially blocks the air passages during sleep and causes raspy breathing or light snoring in young children at night and loud snoring in older children and teens; (2) Central (Sleep) Apnea occurs most often in newborn babies, especially premature infants. This form of Central (Sleep) Apnea occurs when the brain fails to send a message to the lungs to breathe. The infant usually outgrows central (sleep) apnea after 3-10 months, but it occasionally occurs in older children and adults; and (3) Mixed Apnea, which is a combination of Obstructive and Central Apneas occurring together in the same person.

This article will discuss Obstructive Sleep Apnea because this form of apnea occurs most frequently: In about 2.5-to-3% of children under 8 years old it occurs, and probably more often in older children and adolescents, although we do not have accurate incidence rates in this population yet. As high as 4% of women and 8-9% of men over 50 years of age have obstructive sleep apnea, so it is common for this age group. Anyone with obstructive sleep apnea should seek treatment because new medical research suggests that obstructive sleep apnea can cause high blood pressure, obesity, heart attacks, strokes, and many other health problems if ignored.

If an infant has apnea after birth, then parents should monitor their child closely and always make sure the infant sleeps on her/his back at night. If the apnea does not subside in the first year, the child may have Obstructive Sleep Apnea that will need correction before the child enters school. The problems in the child’s facial or breathing anatomy that cause obstructive sleep apnea in young children also seem to cause frequent ear or respiratory infections, although this is not true of all children with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Some of the typical symptoms of Obstructive Sleep Apnea are raspy breathing or light snoring in younger children and loud snoring in older children, adolescents and adults; frequent open-mouth breathing in the daytime or nighttime; gasping, choking, or snorting occasionally in sleep; sweating at night; rolling around the bed or often kicking to open up the blocked airways; and occasional pauses in breathing (which many parents do not notice). If this blockage of the airways occurs frequently during sleep, it results in too much effort to breathe, sometimes waking the person from deep, restful sleep, or causing a deficit of oxygen reaching the arterial blood flow of the brain. Because of this, many sleep research studies on Obstructive Sleep Apnea have reported that apnea has a negative impact on the student’s daytime functioning (alertness, concentration, activity level, work production, moods, academic progress, and behaviors).

Obstructive Sleep Apnea causes many accidents and car wrecks due to excessive daytime sleepiness. Sleep Apnea may also cause many health problems if it goes uncorrected, such as SIDS in the very young, reduction of growth hormones released at night in some cases of young children, lowered cognitive functioning, high blood pressure, heart attacks, strokes, etc. Obstructive Sleep Apnea is considered the most dangerous of all the sleep disorders; therefore, if you or your child have multiple signs of this condition existing, especially pauses in breathing, choking or gasping at night, and/or loud snoring, it should not be ignored. It also is hereditary. If you have any relatives who have been diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea, and your child has some of the symptoms mentioned above, you should click the button below to SCREEN your child or teen for Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

On a positive note, Obstructive Sleep Apnea is usually correctable, and correction often results in improved behaviors, achievement, and a happier, more cooperative child or adolescent. If your child snores often or loudly, you need to SCREEN your child immediately, although there are some children that snore who do not have Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Screening will only take about five minutes of your time, and you will get a good estimate (screening is 85-90% accurate) of whether your child/teen has Obstructive Sleep Apnea. You will also receive immediate recommendations of how medical doctors correct Obstructive Sleep Apnea and how to find these sleep specialists in your area.

If your child has Obstructive Sleep Apnea, your prompt screening and pursuit of treatment could help your child/teen improve his/her school performance and behaviors if the Sleep Apnea is corrected. It could also spare your child later health problems or accidents; maybe even save his/her life! Thousands of people die every year due to the negative impact of Obstructive Sleep Apnea on their health or safety. To SCREEN your child / adolescent immediately for Obstructive Sleep Apnea and other common Pediatric Sleep Disorders, click “Screen Child” below to screen your child with the Sleep Disorders Inventory for Students (SDIS) (for use by parents of children between 2 and 19 years) and get valuable intervention ideas.