If you've ever helped a family move from chaotic nights to restful sleep, you know what a triumph it can be. That first stretch of uninterrupted sleep. The caregiver who finally feels like themselves again. The child who’s better regulated, more engaged, and thriving during the day.

But what happens next?

It’s one of the most common frustrations I hear from both BCBAs and caregivers:

“We’ve been following the sleep plan for weeks… and it’s just not working.”

Maybe the learner is still resisting bedtime.
Maybe the night wakings haven’t improved.
Maybe the whole family is even more exhausted than when they started.

If you’ve ever had a caregiver tell you, “We’ve tried everything and nothing works,” when it comes to sleep—you’re not alone. For many families, bedtime has become a battleground, full of rituals, regressions, and desperation. But for BCBAs, this frustration is also an opportunity. Because the truth is: many of the barriers to healthy sleep are both observable and modifiable. We just have to know where to look.

When behavior analysts talk about essential skills, we often think in terms of language, independence, or emotional regulation. But there’s one foundational skill that quietly underpins every one of those outcomes—sleep.

And yet, most of us didn’t receive meaningful training in sleep science as part of our graduate coursework. We learned how to assess skill deficits, shape new behaviors, and design interventions with surgical precision. But sleep? That was someone else’s domain. Or so we thought.

For families facing persistent sleep challenges, the goal is often summed up in one desperate wish: I just want them to sleep through the night. But here’s something most people don’t realize—we all wake up multiple times each night. The difference is, as adults, we know how to fall back asleep independently. For many children—especially those with developmental differences—that’s the missing skill.

Dropping the nap is a major milestone for both kids and caregivers—and one that often comes with mixed emotions. On one hand, it can open up more consistent bedtimes and easier nighttime routines. On the other, it can feel like losing a much-needed window of quiet during the day. For behavior analysts and families alike, the key is knowing when the nap is no longer serving its purpose—and how to phase it out in a way that supports the learner’s overall sleep health.

When sleep concerns intersect with safety risks, it’s necessary to seek the fastest possible solution. For many families, that solution may come in the form of a “safety bed” like the Cubby Bed. These enclosed beds are designed with features like soft walls, zippered enclosures, and sturdy frames—making them highly effective at preventing elopement, property destruction, and certain forms of self-injurious behavior. For children with significant safety needs, they can provide much-needed peace of mind for exhausted caregivers.

When families turn to us for help with sleep challenges, they’re often exhausted, overwhelmed, and desperate for relief. Many have already spent months—sometimes years—trying to “fix” sleep, only to feel like they’re stuck in a cycle of short-lived progress and long-term frustration. But here’s the reality: with the right focus and support, even the most stubborn sleep problems can see significant improvement in just 5-6 weeks.

We’re often asked to help families "fix" sleep—especially when bedtime battles, middle-of-the-night wakeups, or nap refusals start impacting the child’s behavior and the family’s wellbeing. But here’s the truth: sleep isn’t a problem you fix once and never revisit. It’s a dynamic system that will shift and change over time. That’s why our goal shouldn’t just be to solve the current problem—it should be to equip families with a sustainable system they can rely on every time sleep becomes disrupted.

As sleep continues to earn its rightful place in the conversation around behavioral health and autism services, more BCBAs are finding themselves in unfamiliar territory: supporting families through bedtime battles, night wakings, and inconsistent sleep patterns. And naturally, one of the most common questions I’m asked is, “Can we bill for this?”

As behavior analysts—and especially as Certified Behavioral Sleep Educators—it’s our responsibility to support healthy, functional sleep for the learners and families we serve. But here’s the challenge: sleep isn’t one-size-fits-all. The way families sleep, when they sleep, and with whom they sleep are all deeply influenced by cultural norms and values. When we walk into a home or clinic with a rigid definition of what “normal” sleep looks like, we risk missing the mark—and doing more harm than good.

As behavior analysts, we’re trained to spot patterns, build systems, and write precise behavior plans. But when it comes to sleep, the science only goes so far. Sleep is personal. Emotional. Often wrapped in layers of guilt, fear, and frustration—especially for families of autistic learners who have tried everything and are still running on empty.

That’s why effective sleep support doesn’t start with a checklist. It starts with connection.

When it comes to providing full-day ABA services for younger learners, daytime sleep isn’t just a bonus—it’s a biological necessity. But unlike preschools, where group nap times are the norm, many ABA clinics struggle with scheduling and supporting naps in a way that aligns with each learner’s developmental and biological sleep needs. And for autistic children, whose sleep can already be unpredictable, finding the right rhythm requires a collaborative, informed approach.

As behavior analysts, we’re trained to spot patterns and assess function—but when it comes to sleep, many of the biggest red flags show up not in the data sheets, but in the little moments we might be tempted to overlook.

That’s because caregivers don’t always disclose that sleep is an issue. Sometimes, they may not even realize it themselves. In many cases, chronic poor sleep has become the “new normal,” making it difficult to recognize when things have gone off course. And yet, sleep plays such a vital role in behavior, learning, and emotional regulation that it deserves a closer look—even (and especially) when it isn’t brought up directly.

If you've ever supported a learner who seems to shift into overdrive the moment bedtime begins, you’re not alone. Many children—especially those with autism—struggle to calm their bodies when it’s time to wind down for the night. As behavior analysts, we know that bedtime is not the ideal time to first introduce new behavioral expectations. And yet, that’s exactly what often happens when learners are expected to suddenly shift from active, sensory-seeking behaviors to stillness, separation, and sleep.

As BCBAs, we are taught to look at skill acquisition through the lens of building prerequisite competencies. We wouldn’t expect a learner to independently cross the street before they’ve mastered responding to their name, right? Yet when it comes to sleep, we often skip the developmental scaffolding altogether and assume a child will fall asleep peacefully, alone, in the dark, without the same kind of skill-building we’d apply in any other behavioral domain.

For families of individuals with profound autism, sleep problems aren’t just frustrating—they’re deeply disruptive and often inescapable. For too long, these challenges have been minimized or misunderstood. But as we grow in our understanding of the autism spectrum, it’s time we give the profoundly autistic community the specific support it deserves—starting with sleep.

When we talk about improving sleep in the autism community, we often focus on bedtime routines, environmental cues, and behavior-based interventions. And while those are all incredibly important, there’s one piece of the puzzle that’s often underestimated—the schedule itself.

When it comes to bedtime struggles, many caregivers—and even professionals—are quick to reach for a behavior plan to address "big behaviors" at night. The meltdowns, refusals, screaming, elopement, or demand avoidance can make bedtime feel like a battle, leaving families exhausted and feeling defeated. But before we focus on reinforcement schedules, extinction procedures, or token systems, we need to take a step back.

As behavior analysts, we often focus on early childhood development, but sleep challenges don’t disappear as learners grow. Adolescents—especially autistic adolescents—experience biological shifts in sleep timing that must be acknowledged and supported. Many families struggle with long bedtime battles, excessive sleep latency, and unsustainable sleep dependencies because their child’s sleep needs are being treated as developmental rather than biological.