cp and potty training

[madmouse]

Hiya

My ds will be 3 soon and has mild-ish hemiplegic cp - walks with a frame if strapped in it - can sit himself up - commando crawls

so...he cannot get on the potty or on a loo. Also due to speech delay he is only starting to talk now so I'm not sure he can reliably tell me when he needs the loo (and that's apart from his split mainstream/specialist nursery placement)

Is there any point potty training him? And how do I go about it? Any help appreciated

[madwomanintheattic]

dd2 was potty trained at 2, despite everyone warning us that it might not be possible (ever).

learn the makaton sign for toilet!

she wasn't verbal or walking (and in hindsight, i can't remember why on earth we decided it was a good time lol) but we basically just decided to give it a go. for the first few times we put her on the potty (you can get one from ot - a sit up chair/ commode thingy - toilet chair - they are very helpful) straight after meals, with lots of do you need a wee wee? (frantic makaton signing)

it does mean you (and nursery) need to be very vigilant - he might not get the sign v quickly if at all, but dd2 eventually would squawk and gesticulate to her nether regions and we (or the keyworker) would pick her up and off to the potty.

but your first port of call is def the ot for a toilet chair. we progressed very quickly to actually having our toilets at home adapted (the adaptations were removeable) with rails and a toilet seat/ back with a chest harness.

i honestly couldn't believe how easy it was. dd2 was dry day and night long before either of her nt siblings... there are no guarantees of course, but it's worth a try if you think he might be ready.

(nb - nursery will need a toilet chair/ adaptations too - the ot should be able to sort this. ours was brill. dd2 was at ms nursery with day release to an sn group)

[madmouse]

thank you madwoman

He's not really showing any signs at all, we just get asked every time he sees his paed..

[madwomanintheattic]

maybe a plan for the new year then? discuss with ot what they can offer in terms of eqt for both home and nursery - iirc they let dd2 try a few different designs (not literally - she had her clothes on to see which gave the best support etc.)

it is worth a try, but not something you need to rush. you could get everything in place for easter hols maybe, when the weather's a bit warmer? he might be a bit more stready then too. dd2 make huge developmental gains around 3.

[madwomanintheattic]

stready? steady, obv.

[glittery]

ds was just turned 5 when we got a toilet chair, he has quad dystonic CP and a very floppy trunk so we needed a chair with lots of support (we got the Seahorse sanichair)
he is pretty much non verbal but was dry thru the night and i wanted to give it a go.

we had no idea whether it would work or not but he got it straight away to be honest, he goes at pretty much the same times every day so it was easy to work out a routine and he started to hold it until he was on the chair, he now shouts when he needs to go (i dont always realise thats why he's shouting mind ) and shouts once he's finished.

hes still wearing nappies out and about but thats more a logistics problem! (trousers dont open down far enough/boy bits too short to point down into a bottle when sitting in wheelchair!)