Treating sleep problems in children with Prader-Willi syndrome

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of a sleep treatment package on the frequency of night awakenings, bedtime resistance, and caregiver stress with the caregivers of three child participants diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) using a multiple baseline across subjects design. During baseline, child participants were not exposed to any procedure. During intervention, caregivers implemented a treatment package including graduated extinction, bedtime routines, and bedtime fading without response cost. All interventions were previously successful with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder but had not been attempted with this population. Correct responding was defined as zero instances of night awakenings, zero instances of bedtime resistance (different for each child participant) and decreases in caregiver-reported stress. In addition, social validity was assessed using a Likert-style questionnaire. The results show that the treatment package had varying success across all participants, with the most success being for reducing behaviors at bedtime. These results will provide further understanding of the effect behavior-analytic approaches can have on children diagnosed with Prader-Willi syndrome, increasing the number of applications of applied behavior analysis and the supports available for caregivers of children diagnosed with PWS.