We talk to clinical child psychologist Professor Michael Gradisar of Flinders University in Australia about his new book which looks at evidence-based techniques and strategies to help school age children with insomnia, parasomnias and other sleep problems. Prefer to read? Download the full episode transcript here

Episode Highlights

02:04 Introducing Professor Michael Gradisar 03:44 Dr Leon Lack and Flinders University history of sleep education 05:38 Specialising in sleep interventions for school age children 08:36 What types of sleep problems do school age kids experience?  11:30 What is 'normal' sleep for school age kids, and when is it 'problematic'? 14:39 Sleep hygiene basics for children, caffeine and soft drinks  15:59 More sleep hygiene tips: naps, sleep routines, technology 17:53 Screen time, blue light and sleep: why the associations are not as obvious as you might think 22:09 How do you decide when it's a good time to put your child to bed? 24:32 Chronotype, and why all kids' sleep need are different 27:07 Sleep restriction therapy - does it work for children? 33:25 Bedtime restriction therapy for kids, what is it? 36:13 Recognising the similarity in sleep deprivation and ADHD symptoms 39:29 Should parents give their kids melatonin? 41:11  How to find ways to get kids to voice their bedtime worries 46:28 Why do kids get anxious before bedtime? 50:14 What are child's parasomnias? 53:34 What's the difference between nightmares and night terrors? 55:57 Evidence-based techniques for dealing with childhood parasomnias 58:05 The difference between childhood and adolescent sleep problems 01:00:04 More about the book, Helping Your Child with Sleep Problems: A self-help guide for parents

New parents are inundated with advice on nurturing their newborn, including hundred of blogs, forums, and books dealing with every aspect of managing your baby's sleep.

But once past the infant and toddler years, sleep tends to become more manageable as routines ingrain themselves and habits become established.

However, for many children sleep problems persist beyond the early years into school age and when this happens, help can be harder to find.

Our guest for this episode of our podcast is the esteemed Professor Michael Gradisar who has a wealth of experience in dealing with the sleep problems of babies, children and adolescents in both clinical practice and research.

Discussing his new book, we talk to the professor about some of the evidence-based techniques he and his team have developed to help hundreds of children and their parents cope with sleep issues such as bedtime separation anxiety, insomnia, night-terrors and bedwetting.

This Episode's Guest

Michael Gradisar is a Professor in Clinical Child Psychology and the director of the Child & Adolescent Sleep Clinic at Flinders University, Australia.

Dr. Gradisar has specialized in the treatment of pediatric sleep problems since 2006 and has over 100 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Resources Book - https://www.amazon.com/Helping-Your-Child-Sleep-Problems/dp/1472138724

Faculty page - https://www.flinders.edu.au/people/michael.gradisar

Professor Gradisar's Clinic - https://www.flinders.edu.au/engage/community/clinics/child-adolescent-sleep-clinic More Episodes

Full Transcript Jeff Mann:  00:01:25  So I'm joined on the other end of the line all the way from Australia with Professor Michael Gradisar. Well it's good morning for you, so I'll say good morning, but it's evening here,

Prof. Michael Gradisar So I'll say good evening. You're welcome. And thanks for making this time.

Jeff Mann:         00:01:41       I just wondered if you could give people a bit of a background, how you got into sleep and where you've built up this practice and I believe you started out as a single clinical psychologist and now you've got a full team of researchers. Can,