I could have written pemberley's post. We have all the sleep issues and most of the related behavior that she mentioned. What I have started doing this summer with my 8 year old DS is to sit with him at bedtime and do some guided meditation and deep breathing with him - I talk to him about an imaginary place (like the wide open ocean) and ask him to imagine swimming in those waters while taking deep breaths in and out. I will change the locale very often to keep it from getting old. It has greatly helped to calm him down and he falls asleep in 30 minutes while it might have taken an hour+ before.
I cut off all screens for him because our pediatrician thought that he might be more sensitive to the blue light from screens - we noticed a huge difference in calming down during sleep time without iPads and laptop use.
I ensure that he has hours of physical activity - almost 3 hours of outside play (school recesses, school basketball, daily PE etc) followed by one after-school sports class that is rigorous and monitored by a coach (includes conditioning as well as cardio). On Sundays, when we take a day off his sports routine, there is more restlessness in sleep. We also hike and bike as a family when we have some downtime. That adds to his weekly exercise as well as reduces anxiety levels.
I believe that kids will reach a stage where they can fall asleep by themselves (I am an optimist!) in their teens. Until then, we need to scaffold the ones with severe sleep problems.
