Look for some relaxation/meditation music on Spotify.
I would try and distant yourself from the room as much as possible too.
A friend of ours whose daughter is an insomniac, took her to an osteopath and that’s helped her sleep more

I totally get the need to have that wind down time and it doesn’t seem to happen until they are sound asleep.
Not sure they would work or not, but – A couple of things that we tried with our daughter were ; writing up a list of everything that they could possibly get up for. We made it into a checklist ie; water bottle, kisses, books, clean teeth, blanket, teddy etc. We went through the list and it kind of took all of her reasons for getting up away.
A white noise machine – she actually loved this. We bought it for her when she was about 8. I think it cost me about $30 and I could set it with different sounds. One sound was a thunderstorm and rain. That was her favourite.
Best wishes, good sleep and relaxing evenings.

I always settled my boys with bathtime & then story time & lights out. I’m sure the bath calmed them, & their love of stories made them drift off peacefully because when they were out of that routine they found it harder to fall asleep.

Definitely need to establish a routine. The story time is great, definitely keep that up. Is he getting screen time? I’m a little old school but I’ve always been fairly strict with limiting that- my kids just get it on the weekends mostly. If there’s gaming I’d definitely limit that as it tends to rev kids up. Our routine is get home, tidy room while I make dinner, eat, bath time, walk the dog (you could still go for a walk even if you don’t have a dog), one story, reading exercise then lights off and I’m out of there. You might need to be tough at first, but if he comes out be firm and put him back, eventually he’ll understand you mean business.

Maybe he is not just tired yet? Maybe push bed time by 30 min ?

My son was like this for years. He eventually grew out of it. Nothing we did worked, but eventually we had to teach him to just stay in bed alone. Otherwise we’d have lost our minds.

And low iron can cause sleep disturbances as well…

I was thinking it also may be good to ask his pediatrician if a sleep study needs to be done (he can make a referral). Also has his bloods been taken lately ? A hyperactive thyroid also can give symptoms of overstimulation and disturbed sleeping patterns….

The previous post took the words out of my mouth. You could also look into the step back approach where you slowly distance yourself from the room over time.

Hi Jujubear, I have a 7yr old girl with Down Syndrome, also showing some behaviour problems. How many hours sleeps your son in total and does he fatigue during the day ?I would look to his routine first. We work with a daily schedule / visuals for my daughter to know what happens next and what the expectations are. I have a bedtime social story and often watch a wee youtube video about bedtime routines before we go upstairs.
You could also have a chat with his pediatrician. We use some Melantonin when my daughter doesn’t settle well