Shanaz's story

• Shanaz was worried because her son, Syed, could not wake up in time for high school
• Syed would try to go to bed, but said his mind was racing. It took him hours to settle down
• Syed would pace around and come downstairs all evening and into the night. This was disturbing his younger siblings
• Shanaz and her husband, Adil, suspected that their son might have a form of ADHD, but there was a long wait for a diagnosis

The Sleep Counsellor completed some calls with Shanaz and Syed together and some calls just with Syed himself. The Counsellor explained to Syed how sleep works and shared some videos and online resources to help him understand what his body and brain needed to get to sleep. Together they worked out how Syed could have space for homework, exercise and online gaming and still wind down in time to get enough sleep.

Shanaz agreed to make changes to mealtimes and to the younger children’s bedtimes to make some space for Syed’s new routine. On the Counsellor’s suggestion, Syed then tried setting his alarm to an earlier time, to give him more time to wake up on school days without feeling under so much pressure from his parents.

This was such a success that Shanaz and Adil started getting their younger children up earlier, too. Mornings became much calmer for the whole family.