Cross-cultural examination of sleep and daytime functioning in autistic children and their mothers

Abstract

A central theme of my research is to examine the interplay between sleep physiology, behaviour and mental health across lifespan development. My doctoral work was instrumental in the dynamic comparisons of sleep patterns of autistic children and compare these to the maternal sleep and their mental health. This work was novel since it used multi-dimensional developmental approach, by assessing children and their parents via psychological tools as well as biological examination of sleep patterns. My research is highly collaborative, and benefits from productive inter-disciplinary collaborations to bring complementary theoretical and methodological knowledge. As can be seen from my publications I have been involved in collaborations with clinical researchers (Southampton, Imperial), biologists (NISAD, and MAP Diagnostics, UK), psychologists (UCL) and recently has extended to parental organisations and charities such as Autistica, Resources for Autism, Williams Syndrome Foundation.