Jamie Fellrath | Practical Mindfulness

Autism is hard not only on the people who have it, but also on the families who love them and are trying desperately to help them.  And it sometimes seems that with each discovery about it, the treatment is confounded by another facet of the affliction. Photo by sdminor1 via Flickr Case in point: Autism Speaks posted an article yesterday on a study about sleep disorders among autistic children .  And yes, as most parents of autistic children can attest, autistic children have a higher prevalence of sleep issues - getting less sleep and frequently less-productive sleep. But here's the deal:  if we look at the recommendations for improving sleep, we frequently come across suggestions to reduce or remove stimulation from electronic devices such as TV, computers, iPads, etc.  But in many cases these are the very items that autistic children are the most attracted to, not to mention the very items that they use for simple communication, for filtering out the mass of stimuli they