Pediatric Sleep and OT – Free OT CEU Course

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.

1. You will recognize occupation-based assessments OT professionals can utilize when addressing pediatric sleep.

2. You will be able to identify evidence-backed interventions OT professionals can leverage for pediatric sleep difficulties.

• Intro

• Breakdown and analysis of journal article

• Discussion on practical implications for OTs

  1. How did you become interested in sleep?

  2. Can you tell me about your work with OT and sleep?

  3. What were your impressions of this article?

  4. 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?

  5. 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?

  6. What screens and assessments exist for OTs to utilize with pediatric sleep problems?

  7. The article mentioned many interventions, which interventions do you see OTs leveraging?

  8. What have you learned about the importance of family education?

  9. 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?

  10. What are the next steps for OT professionals who want to pursue this work more deeply?

Primary

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

Additional

• Pediatric Occupational Therapists’ Perspectives on Sleep: A Qualitative Descriptive Study

• Pediatric sleep: current knowledge, gaps, and opportunities for the future

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.

OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic.

Speaker interests: Amy Gore Hartman is a researcher studying sleep health in neurodivergent children and their families, and works with the REAACT lab. She has no financial interest in this topic to disclose.