Sleep Help for Kids and Teens, Including Autistic and ADHD Sleep

Bedtime in a lot of houses is not a routine problem, it is a standoff — and the standard advice ("keep a regular bedtime, avoid screens") does not survive contact with an autistic eight-year-old who needs the same sequence every night, an ADHD twelve-year-old whose best ideas arrive at 10 p.m., or a sixteen-year-old whose body clock has genuinely moved later. This free companion runs in two modes: Kids Mode for ages 6 to 12, led by a parent or carer, and Teen Mode for 13 to 17, owned by the teenager with an adult reviewing any schedule change. It uses behavioural sleep-medicine methods and it never asks a young person to cut their sleep short.

Sleep opportunity comes before every technique

Pediatric sleep guidance puts children aged six to twelve at roughly nine to twelve hours and teenagers at eight to ten. Before any wind-down script is worth building, the window has to physically contain that much sleep. Plenty of "bedtime resistance" turns out to be a schedule that cannot fit the sleep it is asking for, or the opposite — a child sent to bed two hours early who spends those hours learning that bed is where you lie awake.

Teenage body clocks really do shift

Puberty pushes the circadian clock later. A teenager who cannot sleep at 9:30 p.m. is usually not being difficult, and early school start times collide with this directly. The realistic moves are a fixed wake time that does not swing more than about an hour at the weekend, morning light, and a gradual shift of maybe fifteen minutes at a time. Sleeping until 2 p.m. on Sunday feels good and pushes Monday further out of reach.

Autistic, ADHD and AuDHD sleep

Autistic children and teens often need the sequence written down, the same order every night, and advance warning of anything changing tomorrow — sensory details like fabric, light and sound belong in the plan rather than being treated as fussiness. ADHD brains hit their most interesting hour right at bedtime, so the practical levers are moving the body before lying still, a visible timer that is not a phone, and a place to dump the thoughts. AuDHD needs both structure and a discharge for the energy, which is why the wind-down builder asks for one body step, one light step and one brain step.

Night-time after trauma

For a child or teen with a trauma history, night is when the house gets quiet and the body gets loud. The trauma track builds night safety first: the door how they want it, a light they control, who is nearby, where the animal sleeps. If they wake up frightened, the option is a safe chair in the same room with a grown-up available — not being sent down a dark hallway. Nightmares get written down in the morning with an adult, never rehearsed alone at 3 a.m.

What needs a doctor, not a routine

Snoring most nights, gasping or pauses in breathing, falling asleep at school, uncomfortable creepy-crawly leg feelings at night, sleepwalking with injury risk, or a young person saying they do not want to wake up. Those route to a pediatrician, a sleep clinic, or 988 today. No breathing exercise substitutes for an airway assessment.

What this companion will not do

No melatonin or medication doses of any kind — that is a pediatrician conversation, and it matters especially for autistic children where melatonin is commonly used and commonly self-prescribed. No sleep restriction schedules for anyone under 18. No breath-holding exercises for children. No diagnosis, and no claim that a weighted blanket treats anything.

How to use this tool

  1. Pick the mode: Kids (6-12, run by a grown-up) or Teen (13-17, with an adult reviewing schedule changes).
  2. A parent or carer confirms they are present for Kids Mode before the plan opens.
  3. Add any tracks that fit: autistic, ADHD, AuDHD, or trauma and PTSD.
  4. Run the three-slider check-in and tick anything true on the red-flag list.
  5. Set a fixed wake-up time first, then count back to find a lights-out that fits the hours needed.
  6. Build a three-step wind-down — one body step, one light step, one brain step — and keep the same order every night.
  7. Use the phone lab to decide where the device sleeps, and agree it at 5 p.m. rather than at 11 p.m.
  8. Try the age-safe breathing (in four, out six, no holds for under-13s) and use the grown-up tab for bedtime scripts.

Common questions

How much sleep do children and teenagers need?
Pediatric guidance puts children aged 6 to 12 at about nine to twelve hours per night and teenagers aged 13 to 18 at about eight to ten hours. The bedtime window has to be long enough to contain that before any bedtime technique is worth trying.
Does this tool use sleep restriction like adult CBT-I?
No. It deliberately does not shorten a young person’s time in bed. It works on a consistent wake time, a realistic sleep window, wind-down design, light, and arousal instead.
Does it recommend melatonin for autistic children?
No. It gives no doses for melatonin or any other medication for any child. Melatonin use in autistic children is common but it is a pediatrician decision, not a self-help one.
Why can my teenager not fall asleep at a normal time?
Puberty shifts the circadian clock later, which is biological rather than behavioural. A stable wake time, morning light and gradual fifteen-minute shifts work better than an earlier enforced bedtime, and catching up until the afternoon at weekends makes Monday worse.
Do children need a parent to use this?
Kids Mode for ages 6 to 12 is parent-led and requires a grown-up to confirm before the plan opens. Teens aged 13 to 17 can run it themselves, with an adult reviewing any change to the schedule.
When should we see a doctor?
Snoring most nights, gasping or pauses in breathing, falling asleep during the school day, uncomfortable leg sensations at night, or sleepwalking with injury risk. If a child or teen says they do not want to wake up, call or text 988 today.
Is anything we type stored or shared?
No. The plan, wind-down steps and notes stay in the browser on your own device. There is no account, nothing is sent to a server, and no personal information is collected from children.

Where this fits

This companion is free psychoeducational self-help. It is not therapy, diagnosis, or crisis care, and it does not replace a licensed clinician. Everything you enter is stored locally in your own browser and is never transmitted to a server.

It lives inside FeelingsHelper Kids & Teens Mode, alongside more than sixty other free companions for autism, ADHD, PTSD, and trauma.

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