ASD Son refuses to sit on toilet

[user1499979813]

My Son is nearly 5 and is starting school in August. I have tried several times over the last few years to get him out of nappies and failing.
I put him in pants to get him to associate wetness etc as being uncomfortable, I hoped this would encourage him using the toilet. He knows when he needs a bowl movement, as he hides in my wardrobe or shuts himself in his play room. My Son then comes through, lies on the floor and tell me he has "bob aged" When I try to get him to sit on the toilet, he refuses, if I try and lift him on he takes a temper tantrum or gets upset. Any idea to even just to get him to sit on toilet ? I have bought a child's seat, got picture cards, put a toilet social story on his tablet. He is curious about the toilet if you are using it, but he just won't sit down on it

[Hubbabubbababy123]

I also have an asd son. He really struggled with toilet training. It was so bad at one stage it resulted in a lot of fecal smearing (sorry tmi). I use social stories, reward systems, everything. Nothing worked. I bought a book called potty training for boys and inside it the boy is training his teddy bear. I also bought a bear- that looked identical to the one in the book. I bought some teeny nappies for the bear! I introduced him to my son- gave him a name! We both started to potty train the bear, each time the bear went I asked my boy would he try. Most of the time (6 weeks) it was a no but one morning he said yes. It took a total of 5 months, a lot of mess a lot of accidents and new pants etc but now we rarely have an accident and he is using the toilet. My only advice is keep trying. It does get easier and one day it will click..

[user1499979813]

Thank-you, that's a good idea. Willing to try anything x

[HalfShellHero]

I had this exact same situation, with my asd son would stand and wee but no sit and do his buisness and like you it was getting towards full time school, he was terrified of the toilet . I rewarded him ipad time (his love of life) if he just sat in the toilet...didnt have to do anything just sat and id say ok half an hour ipad time. Next day he ran to the loo and did a no.2 ...whats your son really into OP?

[Dinosaursdontgrowontrees]

Have you tried sitting him on it with the lid down. I think you need to find out what he doesn't like about it. (Easier said than done I know) Will he sit on a potty? the reason I ask is my dd similar age also with asd is afraid of the water in the loo..

[3boys3dogshelp]

You can get toilets seats that fit on permanently instead of your normal seat - they have an adult seat, a child seat and a lid. They are much more secure than a seat that's just slots into place so might be worth considering if he is wriggling and tantrumming if you try to sit him down.
My youngest ds was terrified that the seat was going to slip and he would fall in.
How is your ds's speech? Can he tell you what he is worried about?

[rightwhine]

My ds isn't asd but was terrified of doing a poo anywhere other than his nappy. It wasn't the toilet - it was letting go of the poo. He didn't want to use a potty either.

No helpful advice really but it just wondering if it was this rather than the toilet itself, in which case the approach might be a little different.

I eventually cracked it when I luckily caught it in the potty when he had no nappy on. Because he then realised that it was fine to release it elsewhere, the mental block lifted and he was toilet trained.

[user1499979813]

Hi, my Son will sit on the toilet if the lid is down. His speech is not developed enough to tell me what he is scared of. He has managed to say "no like it" when I try to sit him on with seat up. He would not sit on potty either, as he is quite big boy for his age, he is to big for even trying a potty now. Thanks for all your advice x

[rightwhine]

Camping toilet?

[Partridgeamongstthepigeons]

My DS is almost 14 with lf asd. He still won't poo on the toilet but will now wee (cracked this at 12). The continence nurse suggested he may have sensory issues regarding 'letting go' into the toilet (ie feeling that his insides might be coming out) or that he may not like splashback due to sensory too. She advised putting loo roll down first to minimise splash back. Have done this but he still will only go in nappy or pants (yuck!)... maybe one day! Good luck!

[Mymouthgetsmeintrouble]

Its a slow slow process im afraid , try and find out what the fear is is it hes scared he will fall in , the water , the noise of the flush , weve had all of these , initially to just get him to sit on the toilet we would let him hold a toy for comfort lift him on and cuddle him and count to 3 together , loo blue helped with the fear of the water taking his poo because he couldnt see it and it didnt look like water and the flush thing we would flush once he left the room , we only encouraged him to sit if he was calm if he became too distressed we left it , a toilet routine really helped so he knew exactly when he would be going it wasnt sprung on him he knew it was coming so for example after breakfast , after nursery , after lunch , after milk and fruit in the afternoon , after dinner and once hes got his pjs on , once we got to the point he would sit on it we then had a sticker chart for him actually doing something on the toilet we also took him shopping to choose his own big boy pants

[rightwhine]

Copied from another thread about the children's game - Toilet Trouble

We have this game. All 3 of mine loved it. And you know what dc2 has sn and massivly struggling with potty training the games helped him not be so scared of a toilet.