Help! Falling asleep in school

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My 4.5 yr old daughter has a pretty busy schedule during the days she 3 hours of 1-on-1 with me and her aide in the am, then 3 hrs of pre-school in the afternoons. The teacher called today, she's either falling alseep during circle time or story time or almost falling asleep most days. I had pretty much eliminated naps during the summer, the odd one but most days she would stay awake for the whole day. When my little girl naps, she seems to go into a very deep sleep and she can fall asleep anywhere, it's almost like she's 'out cold' and if anyone tries to wake her, she either falls back to sleep very quickly or if she has a full on meltdown/night terror. It usually lasts 10 to 15 minutes but occasionally much longer, 30 to 45 minutes. She never does this when she wakes up in the morning, only naps. If you don't wake her from her nap, she sleeps for hours!

The school wants to know how she's sleeping at night, I put her down at 8 pm and she wakes up at 8, sometimes 9 the next morning, so she's getting plenty of sleep. Sometime she'll wake up in the night, I can hear her stimming (rocking back and forth), but she usually settles down and falls back asleep after a few minutes.
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I'm not sure what to do, I could try putting her down earlier, but at 7pm she seems wide awake. I could try to ride it out for a few more weeks to see if she adjusts to the new schedule? Maybe I should cut her 1-on-1 time with the aide and me in the mornings? Just tell the school to let her nap? Any thoughts appreciated. Thanks!

I'm not a parent, but I have a 4.5-year-old NT brother (he calls me Sissy ) and he, like most other kids his age, still need naps. Although you should probably consult a doctor or psychologist about this, my experience is that kids that age still need naps, so maybe you should have her have "organized" nap routines where she gets a certain maximum amount of time to sleep; then, you could wake her up...maybe? I know that she has a hard time when she wakes up, but maybe a routine would help...it could be just like when she goes to bed for the night. This is just what I've seen most parents do, and the kids seem pretty happy with it. I'm no proffessional, though (I'm only 17)

Are you sure it's not boredom.......I had to make coffee during a lecture today because I could feel myself dozing off and I wasn't tired, I really feel for her!

Our DS was similar at that age. He went to full-day preschool and they had naptime in the afternoon. Waking him up was always a bear. He would be combative and angry. What did work sometimes is gently waking him to the point where you knew he could hear you, although he would not open his eyes, and setting a timer. The teacher or I would set the timer and tell him that he had 5 min left then when the timer beeped it was time to get up.

You say she seems wide awake at 7 pm. Could you gradually move her bed time back to 7 pm, like 5 or ten minutes earlier every few days, and see if she actually gets more sleep? Of course this may just result in her waking up that much earlier. Another thought that crosses my mind is if she is just having a blood-sugar low at that time of the day. Some fruit or crackers for a snack before story time might fend off that drowsiness.

Is there any chance of switching pre-school to am and 1-1 with you and the aide pm? I assume the time with you and the aide can be more flexible, so you can let her nap and work a little later. Usually the modt productive time for kids with AS (and all people in general) is am, so I thing switching pre-school am would be a better idea, and she wont feel so tired. I am surprised her only issue is falling sleep. My daughter would not participate in circle time or story time util about 6 years old. She would just not sit still. She would run around the room, hide behind the desks, start playing by herself, get a book and move away to read the book, etc.