DS (6) has ASD-type behaviour difficulties; basically on the borderline with some autistic traits and described by CAMHS as 'complex' 
Getting him to sleep has always been a bit of an issue and we've always had to sit with him. Over Xmas he wasn't sleeping till past 10, waking early, and being a nightmare to settle, so I mentioned this to the psychologist who was seeing him. She's now got back to me and offered a chat with their specialist sleep nurse.
Good news is in the last month we've made a good deal of progress, and I am wondering whether we'd be wasting her time. Current pattern as of the last fortnight is:
DS has bath about 7.30 and stories about 7.45-8 (ish). We leave him in bed with a copy of the Beano and the massive progress is that he will now generally sit in bed quietly looking at this. He may toddle down a few times as we are clearing up and say 'can I have a cuddle'? He is unlikely to settle himself to sleep. About 9pm we go up and if he's sleepy and you sit with him holding his hand, he will go off. Other nights you rinse and repeat the sitting with him and he's perhaps off by 9.30-45.
Every night he semi-sleepwalks into our bed in the small hours and settles down there, going straight back to sleep. We don't move him. We generally have to wake him at 7am for school.
Now compared to the experiences I hear on this board that doesn't sound a massive sleep issue any more, and I don't want to waste the sleep nurse's time. OTOH I do have a lingering concern that he is fighting sleep till the last possible moment, therefore existing on the smallest amount he can, therefore it's affecting his behaviour.
If I did talk to the sleep nurse goals would be:
- get him asleep between 8 and 9 instead of between 9 and 10, so he's getting 10 to 11 hours rather than 9 to 10. Seems more appropriate for his age?
- I would quite like my own bed back if possible
- help him learn to self-settle all the way to sleep.
Is that unrealistic? Advice much welcomed!
(I also assume sleep nurses don't deal with NT 4 year old DDs screaming the house down because 'something hurts'/they need a drink/they've fallen out of bed
) Thanks!