At 16 years of age, Cirian has progressively delayed getting out of bed to get ready for school. This can mean it takes up to 4 hours to get through Cirian’s morning routine. This includes refusing to leave his bed in the morning, aggressing towards anyone who attempts to physically prompt him to get up, refusing to engage in personal grooming or breakfast routines independently (even though he is capable) or returning to bed and undressing if left unattended.

After collecting information regarding Cirian’s sleep patterns and observing the current morning routine, the behavioural consultant developed a behaviour support plan for Cirian’s family. This involves prioritising getting up without any aggressive behaviour as the initial target, systematically reducing the time it takes to do so to under 15 minutes eventually and then focusing more independence for the associated self-care tasks. His family are coached on how to implement the plan on multiple mornings until they can confidently do so themselves. His progress is reviewed periodically and the plan is adjusted accordingly.