Toilet training question again

[salondon]

Trying to toilet train my nonverbal autistic daughter. She was desensitised and then we started picking cues and sat her on the toilet. She doesn't tell us. But we were able to tell mostly when she has to go. we kept her nappy free during the day.

Was going well on the weekend and most afternoon today. Suddenly in the evening she retaliated. Won't sit on the toilet and has had 4 accidents in 2.5 hours.

Do you think I need to go back a step, put her back in nappies and just reward her for sitting on the toilet?

[TapselteerieO]

How old is your dd salondon?

[salondon]

3y10m

[TapselteerieO]

I would stop, for at least two weeks, a month if possible, complete break, no mention, maybe after a week do running commentary on what your dd is doing, try and say to her when you think she might be straining/wriggling what is happening, keep it simple.

If she will come with you to the loo then before you go say that you need/use pecs if you can. Do a running commentary on your toilet trips too. Give her a treat for going to the loo with you, could be blowing bubbles, getting to play with a sensory toy on loo trips - but keep these things in the loo, or near her potty but out of reach. Chocolate star for sitting on potty, just to read a book, fully clothed if unwilling to sit without nappy.

I bought ds a series of toys, things he would really want, but lesser pocket money toys and sweets for starting - the big incentive toys were really cool things he would want but they went up on a shelf - for the first poo in the potty - for early success. Being outside in the garden made accidents less stressful for me. I also waited until I could let him be nappy free (warmish weather) and tried to catch pee/poo in the potty - he refused to use the toilet, it was too scary for him.


We had more than one potty, so we could get to it quickly. If he had pants on (we went nappy free except at night) and he had an accident (he was oblivious) I would talk about what he was doing in gentle voice/commentary - trying to make him aware.

Every time your dd gets upset back off, let it go, distract if you can.

Hth, ds has been tt for 5 yrs, but it was a very difficult time, I needed two weeks of no interruptions, hardly left the house, just to get started and it took about 7 months. We are in Scotland so he didn't start school until he was five, which took the pressure off, he is a toilet refuser still. Try and make sure you get a break in the evening it is exhausting.

If you use pecs then you could start having a simple daily visual timetable with toilet breaks included.

[salondon]

Hello again, we have made progress. My daughter will now sit and wee & poo on the toilet. However, she is fully prompt dependent. This has been going on for 4-5 weeks now and its taken over my life. I know parents who have done this for months before their children started indicating that they have to 'go'.

Any tips? She is non-verbal and we are already signing before taking her to the toilet(so she knows she can sign to tell us she has to go) and she is getting rewarded for wee-ing and poo-ing.

She even looks at us sometimes when she has had an accident, so she does have the awareness to some extent (I am guessing). What am I missing? Patience?

[salondon]

Hello again, just wanted to give you all helpful ladies an update. I think I can now safely say that my daughter is fully trained during wakeful hours at home.. The catch is "at home". She still wont sit on the toilet in the day care and we are working on it through ABA.

She still has that odd accident however she comes and grabs our attention to show that she has had the accident. Rest of the time, she gets an adult and directs them to the toilet. She gets a reward for doing that

I started in Dec 2013. Its taken us 10 months to get here:)

[sammythemummy]

YAY salondon, Im so happy to hear it. I think the nursery is a new environment so she will need to be encouraged to use it and will get there slowly.

[salondon]

Thanks Sammy for your note and your encouragement in the last feww months..

[osospecial]

Well done salondon, you must be so pleased, that gives me hope, I'm about 4 months in with my dd and I'm also using ABA. She is mostly dry all day now if we are at home but I still have to time it right and take her every couple of hours as she's not at the stage to come and tell me yet. Trying to achieve this in school now too.

[tacal]

Well done salondon. You must be very happy your dd has made such good progress.

[salondon]

thanks Tacal

OSO - generalising the skill is a nightmare. We refuses to sit on any other toilet seat.