My nephew wakes up screaming and pointing his finger at something (or someone) in the dark. There is nothing there. My brother, the all-conference sports guy, feels the hair standing up on the back of his neck. My nephew isn’t the only one. My son also points to people whom I can’t see. When reading at bedtime, Connor once pointed and said “Look at all the peoples.” I corrected him “Honey, there aren’t any people there. Are you talking about people in the book?”
“No right there. Right in here in this room.” Of course there was no one. I am never sure what to say, so I usually give him a quick hug and suggest we continue reading and the people will go away shortly. After we finish reading, I turn off the light, say a prayer and lie down with him until he falls asleep. Once I know he’s in dreamland, I quietly tiptoe out of his room into my own bed. A few hours later, Connor starts screaming “MONSTERS!” and jumps into bed with my husband and me.
It used to scare me witless. On top of everything else, what if Connor was having hallucinations? Hasn’t he had enough? And in the wee small hours of the morning, I confess that my thoughts did turn irrational at times. I can recall leaving a rabbit’s foot, a couple of religious articles, a baseball bat and my car keys beside my bed while I stayed up all night listening for mysterious interlopers!
And then I finally had the courage to tell a friend, who happened also to be a psychologist, what was going on with our resident Ghosts and Monsters. She chuckled gently, then gave me the 4-1-1. She explained that many children, not just those on the spectrum, have sensory feelings that perseverate. (She also explained that the term perseveration means that sensations can last past the time of the initial stimulus…hence the root of the word is to persevere). In other words, Connor would wake up in the night and still have the feeling of my body lying next to his. When he couldn’t find me, he assumed that the feeling was caused by a terrifying and invisible monster!
Tags: monsters, Sleep, sleep disturbances
Is your child having trouble sleeping? If your child is having trouble sleeping it can be because of several reasons. A lot of kids are scared of the dark and think all kinds of things are out there. So what can a parent do? Here are a few websites that have some ideas:
Things That Go Bump in the Night</
This perception of “ghosts” or others in the room is a common one for my clients with autism spectrum and/or nonverbal learning disabilities. I am not a neurologist, but it does seem to be related to a perceptual issue. That sense we have of someone near us seems to be over sensitive in some children, or perseverates,as you say.
Also, when children fall asleep under one condition (parent lying down with them) and then wake up in another condition (alone in bed) it arouses them out of a deep sleep because their brain is trying to figure out why their sleeping conditions are different. That is why sleep experts recommend children fall asleep on their own so when they cycle into lighter sleep they do not wake up fully to figure out where mom and dad have gone.
Sweet Dreams!
Susan Giurleo, PhD
http://www.childdevelopment.com
My Joshie started having nightmares (he’s 6). IT is developmentally appropriate for children to have nightmares as they are working through things they don’t have the words for, and while you may not be able to rationalize them- you can fight them! Which is what we did
Our CPNP advised us that their world is “magical” and to combat the magic with magic! We bought a water gun and filled it with linen spray from Healing Gardens which has Chamomile and Lavender- known to have a calming effect. When he wakes up in the middle of the night he knows that the magic water gun will, as Joshie says, “Take the Monsters OUT!” And they do. I haven’t had to sleep in his bed for a week now and will even tell his sister when she tries to nab his gun “No Leah, that’s for fighting Monsters”.