Treatment of childhood sleep disorders: generalization across disorders and effects on family members.

Investigated the treatment of bedtime problems and its generalization to night wakings. Six children (M age = 35 months) and their parents participated in this study. A multiple-baseline design across subjects was employed and found that treatment instituted at bedtime was successful in relieving both bedtime disturbances and night wakings. Furthermore, significant positive changes in parental sleep and family satisfaction occurred following amelioration of the children's sleep problems. Data support recent work suggesting that chronic sleep problems in children are amenable to behavioral interventions. In addition, this method appears to be more cost-effective and less stressful for parents to implement than behavioral interventions that directly target night wakings.