Pediatric Sleep and OT

Earn 1 hour of continuing education by joining OT Potential after taking this course.

This course is scheduled to be released on April 17, 2025.

Between 20-30% of typically developing children experience sleep difficulty in childhood. The percentage of neurodiverse children  with considerable sleep problems is even more staggering at 40-80%.  

On one hand, it is sobering to consider the impacts of sleep difficulties on children and adolescents. As you’ll hear in this week’s article review: 

Sleep difficulties are linked with everything from poorer health, education outcomes and social outcomes. They can also exacerbate common conditions like ADHD.

But on the other hand, this means that improving sleep is one of the most powerful levers that occupational therapy professionals can address with our clients. 

I know many of you are already at least touching on this foundational ADL with your clients—but I’m hoping today we will upskill you even further, through my conversation with Dr. Amy Gore Hartman. Amy is an occupational therapist and sleep scientist specializing in supporting families with sleep and emotion regulation.

Primary Journal Article Explored

• Umbrella Review and Meta-Analysis: The Efficacy of Nonpharmacological Interventions for Sleep Disturbances in Children and Adolescents

Supporting Research and Journal Articles

• Pediatric Occupational Therapists’ Perspectives on Sleep: A Qualitative Descriptive Study
• Pediatric sleep: current knowledge, gaps, and opportunities for the future

Learning Objectives

• You will recognize occupation-based assessments OT professionals can utilize when addressing pediatric sleep.
• You will be able to identify evidenced-backed interventions OT professionals can leverage for pediatric sleep difficulties.

Agenda

Intro (5 minutes)

Breakdown and analysis of journal article (5 minutes)

Discussion on practical implications for OTs (55 minutes)

• How did you become interested in sleep? 
• Can you tell me about your work with OT and sleep?
• What were your impressions of this article?
• It is hard to take in scope of childhood sleep difficulties and the downstream consequences. How do you describe the scope of this problem and the importance of this work? 
• Can you talk me through the logistics of what it would look like for more OTs to get referrals for pediatric sleep problems. Or what opportunities exist for us to address them with kids already on our caseloads?
• What screens and assessments exist for OTs to utilize with pediatric sleep problems? 
• The article mentioned many interventions, which interventions do you see OTs leveraging? 
• What have you learned about the importance of family education? 
• The article highlighted sleep interventions for autistic children and children with ADHD- how do you see OTs as uniquely positioned to provide sleep support to these populations?
• What are the next steps for OT professionals who want to pursue this work more deeply?

Target Audience/Educational Level

Our target audience is occupational therapy practitioners who are looking to learn about OT and pediatric sleep.  The educational level is introductory.

Financial and Non-financial Disclosures

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

We here at OT Potential have no financial stake in this topic. 

Speakers

Amy Gore Hartman, PhD, OTR/L

Dr. Hartman is an occupational therapist and PhD trained scientist examining the role of sleep health in supporting health and daily functioning for neurodivergent children and their families. She is currently working with the REAACT lab to examine emotional regulation, caregiver-child relationships, and sleep health of the family for autistic children and their families. A fun fact about Dr. Hartman is that she is a mother of two young children who, for the first 5 years of their lives, were difficult sleepers. As a result, she has tried *all of the things* in search of better sleep as a parent.

Sarah Lyon, OTR/L

Sarah’s passion is helping fellow OT practitioners translate evidence into daily practice. Sarah earned her BA in religion from St. Olaf College, then earned her master’s degree in occupational therapy from New York University in 2011.

Since then, she’s worked in numerous facilities, including a critical access hospital, an acute trauma hospital, and a state inpatient psychiatric hospital. Sarah is the founder/owner of OT Potential. Read more about OT Potential here.

This course was designed to meet your continuing education requirements

We designed the courses in the Club to meet the requirements for “online” and “independent/self-study” courses. To verify the requirements from your specific state (within the US), check out our post, OT Continuing Education Requirements. If you are outside of the United States and have questions, please contact us.

We are proud to be an AOTA Approved Provider and to meet the requirements for your NBCOT renewal.

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