Too much sleeping?

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Hi my son is 11 and for as long as I can remember he has/will sleep for 14 hours or more.
It's really difficult to get him up in the am for school. I have to wake him several times and he still complains that he is tired. He is in bed by 8-8.30pm (I've tried to send him earlier, but then it takes him longer to go to sleep) I start trying to wake him around 7.30am-8am it can take anything from half hour to an hour to get him moving. If I don't go in to wake him he will sleep for 14 hours (at least). His school tell me that by the afternoon he is really tired and by Friday afternoon they are lucky to get any work out of him at all. He attends mainstream school mon, Tues, Thurs, Friday. On Wednesday he is at an all day Aspergers Program run by our local Autism school.

Any input or advise would be good

cheers

I am not sure if this has anything to do with it at all, but does your son have low muscle tone? My son is only 5, and he has low muscle tone. He seems to have low energy at times, and his therapists said it may be that it just takes more energy for him to do things than other kids. Although my son really only sleeps about 10 hrs a night (which is normal for a child his age.) Hmmm---wish I could help.

It's possible he has some kind of sleep disorder which is cause him to not feel rested, no matter how much he sleeps. Sleep apnea or restless legs, for example.

I've also been told by my sleep doc (I have just about every sleep disorder there is ) that sleeping *too much* can actually make you more tired.

Also, are you sure he is actually sleeping all that time? I had terrible insomnia as a kid and would lie awake for hours.

Do they get enough iron in their diet? I heard that lack of iron can cause you to be tired and sleep a lot.