Sue McCabe on Pediatric Sleep: Comfort, Complexity, and Thermoregulation
- 19 hours ago
- 3 min read
Dr. Sue McCabe BSc, MSc, PhD
Founder of SleepLinks
"The most important thing is sleep is a 24 hour concern. When we are concerned with sleep, we're actually concerned with the rhythms of day and night, the rhythms of every aspect of our activity and our environment. That's what is important to sleep, and sleep is important to those things."
– Sue McCabe, BSc, MSc, PhD
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For handy links to things we've discussed in this interview, scroll down to the Resources Section at the bottom of the page.
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Podcast Highlights
00:09:00 — Thermoregulation in Children with CP
00:13:00 — Warm Hands, Warm Feet, and Falling Asleep
00:18:00 — The Dietician Conversation That Changed Everything
00:22:00 — The 24-Hour Lens in Practice
00:24:00 — Activity Load, Outdoor Time & Sleep Drive
00:26:30 — Light, Circadian Rhythms & the Body Clock
00:28:30 — Family Context, Attachment & Safety
00:29:30 — Gold Standard Sleep: Timing, Quality, Regularity & Location
00:31:00 — Melatonin: Nuance, Dosing & Misconceptions
00:37:00 — Disrupted Sleep Cycles: Where Do You Start?
00:38:00 — Iron, Vitamin D, Pain & Sleep-Disordered Breathing
00:41:00 — Beyond Behaviour: Routines, Sensory Comfort & Positioning
00:44:00 — Sleep Onset Associations & Night Waking
00:45:00 — Dystonia & Sleep
00:50:00 — Blindness, Circadian Rhythm & “Turbocharging” Cues
00:53:00 — Where to Start in Complex Presentations
00:58:00 — Trauma, Night Terrors & Parasomnias
01:03:00 — What Therapists Are Missing About Sleep
01:07:00 — Advice for New Therapists
BIOGRAPHIES
Sue McCabe, BSc, MSc, PhD – Founder of SleepLinks
Occupational Therapist | Researcher | Educator | Churchill Fellow
Sue McCabe is a pioneering occupational therapist with nearly 45 years of experience across neuro and spinal rehabilitation, community paediatrics, and assistive technology. A 1980 graduate from Western Australia, she has worked with clients of all ages and conditions, providing specialised support in home modifications and customised seating and lying positioning systems.
Over two decades in assistive technology exposed Sue to a recurring but overlooked issue—the devastating impact of poor sleep on clients and caregivers. Missed appointments, reduced engagement, and visible declines in pain tolerance, attention, and memory pointed to a deeper systemic gap in sleep knowledge and service provision. This observation became the driving force behind her advanced academic journey.
Sue completed both her MSc and PhD investigating the factors affecting sleep in children with complex neuro-motor conditions, with a particular focus on thermoregulation and circadian rhythms. Awarded a Churchill Fellowship, she travelled to the UK and Canada to connect with leading researchers and clinicians in the field of sleep health.
Though now retired from clinical practice, Sue remains deeply engaged in the professional community through SleepLinks—her platform for knowledge sharing, professional training, and collaborative research. She is passionate about translating complex sleep and circadian science through the lens of occupational therapy’s person-environment-occupation (PEO) model, which she believes is uniquely suited to understanding and supporting healthy sleep.
Today, Sue champions a collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach to sleep health, grounded in practical application, scientific evidence, and human-centred care. For her, sleep is not a separate issue—it’s woven into every aspect of life, function, and participation.
Resources
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Research Mentioned
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Websites
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Books & Publications
A specialized assessment tool for children with cerebral palsy
Oliviero, Bruni et al papers on pediatric melatonin guidelines
Organizations & Websites
Sleep Health Foundation (sleephealthfoundation.org.au)
Free Australian resource with expert-managed sleep information, also covers New Zealand
IPSA (International Pediatric Sleep Association)
Offers webinars on topics like melatonin
Sue's website: www.sleeplinks.com.au
Tools & Equipment
A "smart" bedding material that helps regulate body temperature
Made in Queensland, filled with buckwheat husks for moldable support
Roho Prodigy mattress overlay (Google search link)
A static air cell system that can help manage dystonic movements
A communication app for team coordination
Assessment Tools
BEARS acronym (by Judith Owens)
A screening tool covering bedtime, everyday activities, arousals, respiration, and sleep
A framework covering health/medical, rhythms/routines, sensory comfort, thermal comfort, position/movement comfort, sleep setting comfort, and behavior/wellbeing/communication
Additional Resources
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