A Study on Sleep-Wake Disorders of School Refusal Children

1995 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

• Project/Area Number: 05305009
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Co-operative Research (A)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: 広領域
• Research Institution: The National Institute of Special Education
• Principal Investigator: ATSUMI Yoshikata The National Institute of Special Education, Department of Education for the Emotionally Disturbed, Director, 情緒障害教育研究部, 部長 (90143552)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): ICHIKAWA Hironobu Tokyo Institute of Psychiatry, Department of Psychophysiology, Research Fellow, 研究員 ; SATO Taizo Juntendo University, Fuculty of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry, Lecturer, 医学部・精神科, 講師 ; SASAKI Hideo University of Tsukuba, College Cluster of Handicapped Children, Professor, 心身障害学系, 教授 (00215724) ; UMAOKA Kiyoto Japan Woman's University, Department of House-Keep, Section of Children, Assista, 家政学部・児童学科, 助教授 (90168740)
• Project Period (FY): 1993 – 1995
• Keywords: school refusal / disorders of sleep-wake schedule / delayd sleep phase syndrome / non-24-hours sleep-wake syndrome

Research Abstract

Increasing number of children with school refusal has become a big problem for those who has been struggling to improve it. The purpose of this study is to reveal the relationship between the school refusal and the disorders of sleep-wake schedule which were frequently observed in the children of school refusal.
The children of school refusal were investigated by check-list sheets and sleep logs recorded by the parents.Physiological Data was also obtained using the wrist watch type actigram, portable logger of rectal temperature and polysommography. These data was analyzed by computer. In forty children, the satisfactory data for the analysis of sleep-wake schedule was obtained. Fifty children of these forty children has delayd sleep phase syndrome. Seven of them has non-24-hour sleep-wake disorder and three of them has atypical sleep-wake disorder. Physiological data were able to obtain in six children of school refusal. Findings obtained by actigram confirmed the reliability of sleep logs. Findings in rectal temperature showed that the internal generator of circadian rhythm were not so displaced as behavioral sleep-wake schedule. Accordings to these findings, it can be thought that the disorders of sleep-wake schedule found in the children of school refusal were rather vulnerable than primary disorders of sleep-wake schedule. There might be a possibility to improve these symptoms by educational measure, as well as the appropriate medical treatment.