The Assessment of Sleep Disorders in Patients with Intellectual Disability

Assessing sleep as a vital sign is particularly important for persons with developmental disabilities, as up to a third of persons with intellectual disability experience sleep problems. This chapter reviews classification systems for sleep disorders, including the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, International Classification of Diseases, International Classification of Sleep Disorders, Diagnostic Manual-Intellectual Disability: A Textbook of Diagnosis of Mental Disorders in Persons with Intellectual Disability, and the Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood. The Five Finger and Palm Approach to the assessment of sleep–wake complaints is introduced—detailing a novel and clinically useful assessment approach.