If my child hasn't had any sleep issues then is it unlikely to be ASD?

[CarrotJanice]

I'm pretty sure that my DC isn't autistic. School are pretty insistent that feel they are.
Sleep has always been fine, although not sleeping until 10pm consistently but other DC is the same and NT as far as I'm aware. I thought it was just cultural as we eat later and go to bed later in general.
I have lots of good relationships with autistic people, including my bestie. It just doesn't seem like it's the right diagnosis for my DC.

You must realise that all children are different and that a lack of one symptom/trait is not sufficient to rule out one particular condition or another.

Presumably the school have raised issues that are nothing to do with sleep? Things that impact on your child's ability to learn at school?

I have 3 possibly 4 autistic children (all 4 nd). 2 have sleep issues, 2 don’t. Of the 2 that do, 1 has trouble getting to sleep, but sleeps through when they do. The other gets to sleep no problem but has trouble staying asleep.

I don’t think sleep issues mean they do/don’t have asd. Trust your instincts, especially if you have experience of autism, but also keep an open mind. They can have a referral but won’t get a diagnosis unless they have it I would assume.

My daughter is autistic and slept through from 8 weeks and still sleeps 12 hours a night.
There is no defining characteristic to autism.

Autism covers a wide range of issues. Plenty of people who have autism have no problem sleeping. My autistic ds slept through the night from a year old and never looked back.

If school are telling you they suspect autism, then it is your job to listen to them. They might be wrong but equally they might be right. They don’t make these things up and then have difficult conversations with parents just for fun.

I'm autistic and so are my children, none of us have sleep issues. The only autistic people I know with sleep issues also have ADHD but that's just my experience.

Why do the school think they have ASD and why do you think they don't? Other than the sleeping thing.

I have an autistic child with no sleep issues.

WTF? What has sleep got to necessarily do with ASD?

My autistic DD wasn't a fantastic sleeper as a baby but nothing too unusual. Then slept well from ages 2-10. I don't think sleep even came up on her autism assessment though. What are the school noticing that make them think your child is autistic?

Does your autistic friend think your child is autistic? We often notice more subtle traits in others who are also autistic.

If school have raised it as a possibility I would want an official assessment.

My autistic daughter has always slept brilliantly. Not a symptom for us at all.

I have 3 with asd, one has sleep issues, two don't. I'm also an autistic with no sleep issues as is dp so in our house, sleep issues are not indicative of asd at all.

My DS is autistic and has grown out of sleep issues. Who knows what the cause was - we find he’s knackered after a day with NT people and sleeps like a log for 12 hours! It’s not determinative of anything.

My 10 year old DS has Autism and has always slept like a baby. No night time issues at all, ever.

It’s a very big spectrum, and just because some children with ASD struggle at night time, it doesn’t mean the ones who don’t struggle shouldn’t be diagnosed. My DS has his own battles, and sleep thankfully isn’t one of them.

My autistic son is an amazing sleeper. Goes to sleep brilliantly (earlier than peers), stays asleep all night and has fantastic quality sleep. As a young child, he would take himself to bed if he was tired. And he is still asleep lots earlier than his friends. He really needs his sleep.