Any ideas for getting a 16 year old out of bed?

[RiverGirl]

Hi. Am really struggling to get my 16 year old son out of bed in the morning and to school on time. Anyone got any ideas that actually work thanks?
Nothing seems to work because he really doesn’t care about time demands. He goes to bed really late because he can’t fall asleep. I think he’s awake till about 1:30am. He can’t take medication to fall asleep because his body reacts to this. He has high functioning autism so his brain is still thinking and processing late at night and doesn’t know how to calm itself down. Please help!

[TOM-RO]

Hi @RiverGirl 

Yeah that sounds tough all round! I can imagine I'd feel very reluctant to get up early if I've had a late nights, that's only natural but it sounds like it's become a bad habit. I would say that the routine is key here. So if you look at the classic "sleep hygiene" ideas, it's all about setting up a good sleep routine to help with these issues. The main thing if nothing else, is to go to bed as close to the same time as possible and get up at the same time regardless of what else is going on. What you've described is hard because your son has trouble with sleep medication and is struggling to self sooth. This sounds like a broader issue but directly impacts sleep. Of course if this continues to be an issue I imagine it will impact almost all other areas of his life socially, emotionally and with study. I'd suggest to always keep professionals involved including general practitioners and even counsellors/psychologists where relevant. Mainly because self soothing can be very important as a coping mechanism overall and getting support around this would be invaluable.